Rules Were Meant to Be Broken
by Ultimate Naco Topping
Summary: "They were his ultimate nightmare: a red and grey, fluffy, walking, talking, laughing, will-they-won't-they abomination of adorableness." In which a rabbit and a fox fight crime, each other, sexual tension, their boss, their parents, more sexual tension, kidnappers, their boss's boss, and sexual tension. Heck, let's throw a monsoon in there for good measure. WildeHopps
1. Prologue

**Rules Were Meant to Be Broken: Prologue**

by Ultimate Naco Topping

* * *

Ever see one of those couples that just worked?

Like peanut butter and jelly?

Milk and cookies?

Sonny and Hare?

Okay, bad example.

Most mammals react to such couples with either warm fuzzy cooing or guttural disdain. There is rarely a middle ground. You either want them to kiss or you want to lock them in a crate and shove them over a waterfall.

Take Clawhauser, for instance:

From time to time, Nick and Judy would breeze through the front doors of the precinct _together_ for another day of serving the public. With the smiles, the laughing, the teasing, the playful touches, he would always have to suppress a giggle of hope.

Maybe...

...just maybe...

...it happened last night...

...and they were walking in together because they'd woken up in the same place...

..that they had locked eyes...

...or brushed paws...

...or one of them said just the right thing...

...and they had finally...

...FINALLY...

... _ **FINALLY**_...

...connected the dots...

...and the world was now going to be full of rainbows...

…and sunshine...

…and the wedding would be in the spring...

...and Gazelle would be there and...

...and...

...a cheetah could dream, right?

They would make it to his desk and he would do his best to draw out the truth. The portly cheetah was always disappointed. These two _never_ connected the dots—unless there was a crime involved. Still, the spotted dispatcher could hope.

Chief Bogo, on the other hand, bristled each time the rabbit and fox's banter spilled all over his bullpen. They were his ultimate nightmare: a red and grey, fluffy, walking, talking, laughing, will-they-won't-they abomination of adorableness.

He'd rather face a stampede of elephants than spend more than a second thinking about the administrative and public relations disaster that would happen if those two ever...

However, his hooves were tied. They were damn fine officers. They had saved the city from spiraling into warring factions of fear and hate. They were the darlings of the general public and the faces of a new era of predator/prey relations. But there were days when he wished he had a crate and a waterfall handy.

Like this one. The cape buffalo was leaning so hard on his podium that it was threatening to shatter under his weight.

"I think you're jealous, Carrots," Nick said with sly smile.

"Why... would I be jealous?" Judy snapped narrowing her eyes.

"Yep, you're jealous."

"AM _not_. You just want an excuse not to ask her out."

"Whoa there, Fluff! Are you questioning my game?"

"Insecurity, party of one?" she sing-songed.

"I will ask her out... when the time is right," he replied locking a steely look of resolve onto his best friend and partner. She glared right back. The battle was on.

"Well," she sassed. "We're waiting..."

"YES!" Bogo bellowed. "We're _all_ waiting."

The rabbit and fox snapped to attention as they suddenly felt a couple dozen sets of eyes fixed on them. The other officers tried to bed down their laughter but most couldn't. The chief had managed to contort his face in such a way that he was manically smiling and seething a frown at the same time.

The partners pinned their ears back and made themselves look smaller than pious church mice.

"Before we get to assignments...," Bogo began. To say he relaxed his stance would be a misuse of the word 'relax', but he had at least stopped torturing the podium with the brunt of his displeasure.

He went on about a couple community service announcements, needing volunteers for the Officer's Gala committees—or he'd start picking names randomly—then, finally, assignments. There were a lot of small time crimes to look into, but nothing the squad couldn't handle blindfolded.

"Hopps. Wilde," he said getting to them last. He didn't have many opportunities to make them sweat so he paused and let them feel the ax hover over their heads. They had been on remarkably good behavior for the last three minutes—something of a record for them—but even they knew to expect the worst. "Patrol. Dismissed."

The pair let out their collective breathes. The chief himself was surprised he hadn't said 'parking duty' even if they deserved it. Chief Bogo stayed locked on the podium as the pair scurried towards the door. He closed his eyes hoping the silence of the now nearly empty bullpen would calm him. No such luck.

"Hopps, _give me back my phone_ ," Nick pleaded.

Bogo caught them out of the corner of his eye as they approached the door. The rabbit had somehow lifted the fox's phone from him. Despite being almost half his size, she had him at arms length. The situation was well in paw as far as she was concerned.

"Hey, it's the fox cop. With the shades. Nice meeting you. I'd love to catch a drink with you sometime. Winky Face" Judy said typing furiously on the phone with her free paw.

"You send that text and there will be a Mate dot com profile of you...," the door closed cutting off the rest of Nick's threat. Silence at...

"RABBIT!" the fox's screech took even that from the chief.

Despite being the youngest Chief of Police ever appointed to the ZPD, the cape buffalo was already counting his days to retirement—if those two didn't kill him first.

* * *

A/N: _They found me. I don't know how, but they found me. Run for it, Marty!_ 'They' being the rabbit and the fox who refused the leave a long dormant part of my brain alone. Yes, there is a lot of WildeHoppes fluff already, but I can't help myself. Some chapters will be more helpings of mindless fluff, others will move the overall story forward. Comedy will be my priority but don't be surprised when I kick up the action a few notches. This will be rated T for mild language and adult situations.


	2. Be Careful What You Wish For

**Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 1 - Be Careful What You Wish For**

* * *

A pretty uneventful day had passed on patrol. They had handed out a few speeding tickets, answered a noise disturbance, and returned a truant raccoon to his middle school. For the fox and the rabbit, it was basically like hanging out on the couch.

They had returned to the station at shift change to file their reports and get home quickly. They slipped passed Clawhauser so as not to be sucked into his latest giggle fit over whatever Gazelle news he had just heard. He was almost shouting in the face of a young pig in cuffs who was practically screaming with his eyes to be thrown in jail— _anything but this._

They wrote pretty fast once they got to their cubical. Judy may have had her dream job, but her goal right now was to get home without being roped into anything else so she could use the remaining daylight tending to her rooftop garden. That was until...

...Nick's phone dinged with a new text message. The rabbit's left ear twisted in a fraction of a second.

The fox could feel her hovering over his shoulder with a huge toothy smile. He held his phone down to keep the screen out of site. He eyed her very cautiously.

"Is it... _her?"_ she asked.

"I'm beginning to think you're the one who needs to get hooked up, creepy rabbit, not me," he quipped.

She stuck her tongue out at him and fell back into her chair. Nick looked down at his phone. It _was_ her-the vixen from the other day-responding many hours later to Judy's text on his behalf.

 _Yes, but only if you wear the shades ;)_

He eyed his partner again expecting her to have snuck back behind him. He was shocked to see her back to work. It had been ages since he had engaged with a female amorously. Becoming a cop had been time intensive. He aimed for casual but direct.

 _Ur in luck. They're medically necessary. Friday at 9?_

He sent it hoping that his immediate reply wasn't too hasty... or desperate. He closed the phone and put it down not wanting to obsess over whether she replied right away. The fox on the other end didn't seem to have such concerns as another ding was nearly immediate. He was a bit hesitant to look. Slowly, he picked up his phone.

 _You're on. Where?_

A very long list of old haunts and dive bars that he frequented flashed through his mind. None of them would be appropriate, so, he deflected.

 _Depends on how the rest of the week goes. I'll text you day of._

The three little dots holding the place for her reply came up so quickly he didn't put his phone down this time.

 _Ha! I know what you mean. Can't wait. xo_

His eyes remained glued to the screen.

 _X? O?_ he thought with a gulp. He didn't have time to process.

"Way to go, slick," the rabbit cooed in his ear.

He jumped and flashed her a look of contempt, but he wasn't given the floor to respond.

"Finish your reports and _let's go!_ " she ordered.

Nick scribbled a pair of sub-first grade sentences on each of the remaining reports and zig-zagged an illegible signature to each. The rabbit feigned annoyance but was otherwise on board. Just as they turned to leave...

"Hey guys," Clawhauser's fluffy face greeted them with as much somberness as the perky cheetah could muster. "Something's come up. Chief needs everyone in the bullpen."

Shoulders and smiles slumped and faded as they shuffled to the impromptu meeting. So much for an easy day.

Judy stretched as her thoughts shifted away from an evening of gardening in peace-unless Nick decided to 'help'-to what may be another long night on duty.

She realized it was still a privilege to serve on the ZPD. She didn't even know what to call getting to do this job with her best friend.

She stole a glance at the fox sauntering next to her. Not a single second of the countless hours she spent dreaming of working the streets of Zootopia as one of the city's finest ever involved doing it all with a smart-mouthed fox by her side as her partner.

But here she was. Or more accurately, here _they_ were.

She was a strong, fiercely independent rabbit who did not know when to quit. Come hell or high water, she was going to try and win. And yet, she was totally in orbit around Nick.

On paper, it shouldn't have worked. They were a classic good girl/bad boy. Their story should have gone something like:

Good girl meets bad boy. Paw holding. Singing about going steady. Rendezvous under the board walk. Good girl tries to change bad boy. Bad boy rides off on motorcycle. Good girl finds a nice accountant to settle down with.

Bad boy was not supposed to ditch the motorcycle for a badge and fight crime in the streets with good girl.

Although _'how cool Nick would be on a motorcycle'_ was a thought she had from time to time _,_ the fact remained that he dropped his entire life to follow her around. So, maybe it was him that was in orbit around her?

She never let herself think too much about paw holding with the fox— _or a rendezvous for that matter_. Those remained just over the horizon for some reason, but a horizon that seemed reachable.

They had settled into an unbelievably complex and deep friendship. They worked together. They lived together. They played together. She knew why people thought of them as a couple. But they hadn't crossed that line. The being friends, partners, rabbit, fox, prey, predator parts were all good reasons for not crossing said line, but not definitive reasons they shouldn't.

Was there something more to them? _Could be,_ she thought. _But there was nothing wrong with what we got today._

Even if that wasn't in the cards, everyday, he gave her the gift of seeing him: his new life was her living breathing impact on the world. What more could she really ask for before it became greedy?

Maybe that's why she had pushed him towards that vixen they'd met on patrol the day before. She had found in Nick Wilde so much more than the world was willing to see—than he was willing to see—that she was compelled to correct every single mammal one by one if she had to. Why not start with that sweet fox girl who said, 'Nice shades, slick.' ?

Still, as they approached the bullpen doors, she toyed with the notion she could ask for more if she really wanted to...

"Surprise!" shouted the entire squad as they entered.

A banner hung across the front of the room that read, _Happy 1-Year Judy!_ Cake and punch were on the front table.

Judy's paws clutched her chest. _Had it really been a year?!_

"You guys!" she said turning to punch Nick almost instinctively.

"You did this," she accused.

"I knew nothing about it. Punch Benji, not me."

She didn't punch Clawhauser but instead leapt at him and put her arms as far around him as she could.

"Thank you! So much!" she said warmly releasing the hug.

"My pleasure, little bunny," the big cat replied patting her on the head.

"Hopps," Chief Bogo said bringing the room nearly to attention. "Congratulations. You are no longer, _officially,_ a rookie."

The room filled with cheers and growls and howls. The two shared a smile. Judy could almost swear the imposing cape buffalo was fighting back a tear.

"Judy, I got you something."

That was Nick's voice that just said her name. _Her actual name_. She turned over her shoulder to see her best friend and partner holding a small nondescript box.

"So, you did know about this."

"Of course I _knew._ I just didn't do anything to help," he said—if his voice had been any more wry, it could be sliced and used to make sandwiches at the corner delicatessen.

Judy took the box and pulled the lid off. She had been fighting tears since they walked through the bullpen doors, but she finally lost the battle and let one escape. Sitting on a small bed of tissue paper was a carrot pen.

She lifted her eyes to him and was met by a rare Nick Wilde genuine I'm not being a smart aleck smile.

"Happy work anniversary, Hopps."

"Work anniversary? I thought this was your wedding anniversary," Fangmeyer joked shattering the mood while earning some laughs and a high five in the process.

"Don't even," Bogo thundered in a way that somehow restored the moment to the pair. The attention turned to the cake giving the fox and the rabbit a moment.

"Is this my...?" she half-asked half-sniffled.

"Your's is still in evidence. Figured it was time you got a replacement."

Judy opened her mouth to speak, but he shushed her.

"Play it."

The rabbit cursed him in her head. She was about to have a joy-induced breakdown as it was. She was hoping he'd recorded something beyond sarcastic and even off-color, but given his current facial expression still conveyed earnest—was _affection_ the right word(?)—she braced for the worst.

 _Click_

" _Hi sweety! / Hi, Jude the Dude! / We just wanted to say how proud we are of you / You keep proving us wrong over and over / Keep being our little try-er! / And keep that fox partner of yours out of trouble /And vice-versa, Nicholas! / Love you, bye!"_

She was already sobbing into Nick's chest before the recording from her parents was even half over. Her arms wound tightly around him. Bogo sent Nick a 'what did you do?!' glare. Nick smirked and shrugged his shoulders practically saying, 'I was Nick. What else is new?'

Judy had played the recording back a second and third time squeezing harder and harder on to the fox.

Suddenly and violently, she was not okay with having scored Nick a date with that vixen.

"Carrots, you're going to break my ribs," the fox managed to choke out of his muzzle.


	3. Ask a Cop

A/N: Thank you for all the follows and favorites! And thanks to Danny-171984, Comet Moon, Lola, LadyNoirIsLife, Flipside Remix, ChaoticImp, Abbiemination, Ringcaat, ktrk5, & various guests for your reviews. I respond to all reviews, FYI, so review away or feel free to ask a question. A few other notes: expect updates on the weekend as that is when I have to to work on this. The more I've written on this story, the more it has turned from some loosely held together fluff to a fully plotted story. There's already nine or ten additional chapters that I'm reworking to fit the plot that has evolved.

I think it's time to get this train a'rollin! Enjoy!

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 2 – Ask a Cop**

* * *

Nick wasn't sure if he liked working ZPD community outreach or not. On the one paw, there was no running down bad guys or paperwork. Plus, he wasn't stuck behind a desk or in a patrol car. On the other paw, he had to interact with the general public—a very nosey general public.

He and Judy were the faces of the ZPD and, in a lot of ways, the faces of the city itself. People trusted _them_. Yes, 'them' included the fox.

As such, once a week, Bogo had them go to various parks, schools, and public venues for the 'Ask a Cop' program. There was nothing formal about it. They'd just pull up in their cruiser and hang out and be available to the public for questions. It was very much an effort to calm the lingering fears post-Bellweather. A predator and a prey, first of their kind at the ZPD, out in public reminding them of what Zootopia had always aspired to be as a city.

It was such a wild success that the new mayor and Bogo expanded the program. However, none of the other officer pairs ever attracted as much attention or success as the fox and the rabbit.

The ZPD's all-terrain patrol cars were massive and intimidating. They also carried with them very large imposing mammals. So, when one of these vehicles pulled up to a park or a playground, it often got everyone's attention.

When out would spill a fox and a bunny in uniform, that attention only intensified.

Kits, kids, fawns, and cubs would always make the approach first encouraged by the officers' smiles and waves. It only took a minute or so for the intimidation factor to go away and the laughing and fun to begin.

After a while, the adults would join in and the real work would start. There were a lot of questions about the Night Howler case. Mammals still had some lingering doubts that it was really some sort of serum that made the predators go savage. Nick was always surprised at how much the predators would ask. They wanted to be sure that they wouldn't be falling victim to their primal urges and end up attacking their friends and family and neighbors.

They should have been angry, upset, and offended that they had been setup so ruthlessly. Instead, they acted like they felt guilty—almost like they were still pleading to be recognized as good and peaceful citizens. It had pained the fox, but he appreciated that it pained the rabbit just as much.

Over several months, thankfully, the fears subsided. The city was healing, but this opened the door to other questions. Towards the end of each session, Judy would be pulled into games of soccer or tag or onto the play-sets with the children. The fox held back not because he still had a lot of lone fox curmudgeon in him, but because, well, he didn't want to admit why.

The rabbit's boundless energy and effortless smile and laughter and banter with the children of the city warmed him ever so slightly. He would definitely steal a look or two or three or _twelve_. That's probably how the more annoying questions started—the questions that made him uncomfortable with being exposed to the general public.

"So," a cheetah mother or elk bachelor would always begin with a wink and a smile. "You and the bunny?"

It would always come as he relaxed his face watching Judy be the insufferable ball of fluff she was with the children—but more than that—a mammal living her dream of being a big city cop and inspiring _literally_ everyone she came in contact with to make the world a better place.

Smooth talking Nick never had a sly response. He would stumble through a series of "well's" and "we're just's" that did nothing to convince the mammal asking him that he wasn't at least somewhat smitten. Truth be told, he didn't really want to shut down the talk of a bunny and a fox being something... more.

Maybe he didn't like these little interactions because it took the increasingly hard to ignore thought out of his head and put it out into the open.

Or maybe he didn't like the part where he dismissed the thought with a stern reasoning of 'we're friends, we're work partners, she's a bunny, I'm a fox, prey, predator, move along, nothing to see here'.

Or maybe it was because those questions were making him confront his own prejudices or more accurately, projections.

Interspecies relationships had long been 'a thing that mammals knew happened'. Only recently, in the last few years, had the attitudes towards those relationships finally swung enough for those couples to step out of the shadows. It was a hard fought struggle and there were still a lot of mammals uncomfortable with the idea—a few even downright hostile—but momentum was on the interspecies side. Especially after Gazelle and one of her backup dancing tigers made their relationship public.

With the general population becoming more accepting of the idea, from a moral standpoint, that it didn't matter what species a pair of mammals were to love each other, the purists tried a more naturalistic-based approach:

 _Two different species couldn't procreate therefore it was unnatural and wrong._

Science sounded a big 'wrong answer' game show buzzer to that idea.

It was still a very controversial finding but after sequencing and studying the genomes of most mammals, the conclusion was inescapable: the species had intermingled genetically. They found lions carrying ten percent of the zebra genome. Beavers had chunks of the badger genome. Cheetahs and gazelles. Bears and elk. Foxes and rabbits.

The findings flew in the face of what they thought they knew about genetics and mating across species boundaries. There was much work to be done, but scientists were starting to theorize that whatever evolutionary changes that happened to all mammals at around the same time to make them walk upright and develop culture had also somehow managed to make interbreeding possible.

The alternative theory was that the adaptation to allow interbreeding was a deeper, more primitive one that was carried with all mammals before they gained the abilities to walk and talk and may have been around before many of the species had separated genetically.

There were also some prey mixing with other prey and predator with other predator too, but the majority of the mixing happened between what one could consider 'natural enemies'. In other words, predator and prey.

The findings were shaking up natural history and archeology. The long since maligned theory that predator/prey relations on the whole had been forged at the dawn of civilization—when predators stopped hunting and eating mammal prey—by marriages between predator and prey suddenly came roaring back to life. It made too much sense. What better way to cement peace between two previously warring factions than with marriages between the two groups?

Researchers were astounded at how much obvious evidence for those relationships existed that had been swept under the rug. And interspecies unions continued for much longer than historians originally thought. But, for some reason, they fell out of style before industrialization and with it, the recognition that they had happened at all.

The purists, of course, dismissed the scientific and historical arguments even as confirmation of the results started coming in from populations across the globe. They went back to the moral arguments that interspeciesism led to a breakdown of familial bonds and would lead to societal disfunction.

The pro-interspecies advocates responded cleverly. Sympathetic predators wore shirts printed with '10% Elk' or '20% Zebra'. Sympathetic prey would wear shirts printed with '10% Lion' or '15% Otter'.

Nick's personal favorite though was a cheeky fellow fox wearing a 'Fox on the streets. Rabbit in the sheets.' shirt. He knew Judy would die of embarrassment if he ever wore a shirt like that.

Nick didn't need science or history to make him accepting of intersperses relationships. Hustling on the street had made him very accepting of all forms of love. So, thinking about the idea that he and the rabbit could be in a romantic relationship shouldn't have troubled him—but it did.

He couldn't help remember that she grew up on a very conservative farm and he feared those sensibilities, despite how far she'd come, were still knocking around her head.

He knew that was unfair to her: to assume that she wouldn't be open to a romantic relationship with him because he was a different species. But old instincts were damn near impossible to kill and he simply did not know for sure what she really thought. He wasn't about to ask and get an answer that would shatter this wonderful thing they had going.

So, he had to settle for living vicariously through other mammal's prying questions about the possibilities between them. Occasionally, a male would cross the line a little with their phrasing which Nick _did_ have an appropriate response for. He wasn't power hungry, but there was something about giving a stern look out of the side of his face and puffing his badge out ever so slightly from his chest that gave him a kick.

This day had been no different. The sunlight had begun to shift amber and the shadows were growing longer. The little square they were at was surrounded by some smaller brownstone buildings that housed many families. Shops lined the bottom floors opening to the square with its gazebo and small patch of grass barely big enough for the kids to run around in.

Nick was finally alone by the cruiser, the public having asked all the question they wanted for the day. He wasn't stealing a look at Judy this time because they were locked eye-to-eye with each other. Judy was stuck in a pose half-way pivoting to her right as if she was about to turn and run. But she couldn't. She had been freeze tagged. Her ears were dangling over the front of her shoulders framing her face in a look that he'd never seen from her before—a look he found oddly attractive. She was also motionless, a look he almost _never_ saw from her.

The children darted around her using her as a shield to avoid getting freeze tagged themselves by the young goat who was 'it'.

 _Come play_ , she mouthed. Nick rolled his 'too cool for school' look at her.

 _You never play! Come on!_ she mouthed eyes widening. The fox was very very tempted, but before he could decide to peel himself away _from himself_ , Judy was untagged. She threw herself back into the maelstrom giving Nick the out he needed.

 _If this is all we can be...,_ his thought trailed. _I'll take it._

He went right back to stealing looks.

"Psst... Nicky," a loud-ish whisper came from behind.

The fox turned over his shoulder and saw nothing.

"Other way," the voice called again.

Nick was in the process of recognizing the voice when he turned over his other shoulder and it became clear. Near the edge of the alley across the little street their cruiser was parked on, a fox's head poked around the corner. The fox motioned him to follow.

Nick sighed with a glance back to Judy. She was now 'it' and too absorbed in the freezing of every child in sight. When Judy played, she played to win.

The fox slipped across the street to the corner of the alleyway. As he began to peer around the corner...

"Uncle Harris," he said flatly.

"You're probably good there, Nicky. We don't want to get you into any jams."

Nick groaned as he heard the code phrase for the first time in ages. He might have been out of the hustle game for a year, but he knew what his uncle meant. Foxes, and most of the city's hustlers, knew how to position themselves to stay just out of sight of the traffic cameras. Nick would be seen, of course, but as far as the cameras were concerned, he was standing by himself.

Nick leaned against the side of the building facing back towards Judy and the kids. He could roll his head to the side to see his uncle, an older fox a few inches shorter than him and a bit chunkier. He was well dressed, but his fur was nowhere near as red as Nick's and the white furs of experience were poking through his coat.

"You're looking sharp, squirt," the elder fox said. "Uniform and badge and all."

"I always look sharp," Nick replied.

"Good to see they didn't snap that attitude out of you."

"What do I owe you the pleasure?" the younger fox said dropping a hint of agitation.

"Straight to business, huh?"

There was an awkward pause as Nick said nothing.

"Look, Nick, if you're still harboring a grudge, I get it. But me and your mom were trying to protect you."

Nick suppressed a growl at the mention of his mother. He could do nothing about the fur rising on the back of his neck.

"Being around the family business at your age... You weren't ready. There were too many shady characters and bad influences around the place back then."

"Yeah, shutting me out and letting me fend for myself _totally_ rid me of those bad influences. Oh, wait, the opposite of that."

"I'm sorry we went about it the wrong way, but you would have been much deeper in had we not stepped in. You'd probably be in jail or dead."

Another long pause. Nick just focused his gaze on Judy as kids crawled over her in ball of laughter.

"You don't have to forgive me, but at least forgive your mother."

"I forgave Mom a long time ago. She and I are fine."

"You don't sound like it. She's so proud of you, Nicky. She's proud of what you've become. She never lets anyone not know it. The whole family's proud of you."

Nick sighed and removed his shades. He knew he was being buttered up and that his mom was truly wonderfully proud of him. They really had patched things a long time ago. What the fox couldn't appreciate was his mother's love being used against him. But, he knew eventually, she'd find out if he refused to help and she'd find a way to make him. He turned to his uncle, jam cams be damned.

"I can't make any promises until I know what's going on. And even then..."

"Thanks... You're not going to like it though."

Nick rolled his eyes slightly but waited.

"I got a polar bear problem."


	4. Baseball Metaphors

A/N: Thanks to ChaoticImp, Lola, njlopez, xXbunnyholicXx, Destructo Wolf, LadyNoirIsLife, ktrk5, Danny-171984, and Cimar of Turalis WildeHoppes for reading and reviewing. I'll be responding to reviews shortly. As you'll see in this chapter, I'm beginning to draw more and more from the Art of Zootopia book. There are so many great concepts in there that had to be dropped to make the wonderful movie we received. However, this will not evolve into a Zystopia-style story (plenty of good ones to check out already), but I will be bringing in many of those abandoned ideas to see how they can work in Zootopia as it was left off at the end of the film. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 3 – Baseball Metaphors**

* * *

Nick did the minimum required to check for traffic before crossing the street. He knew, that at some point, his family would come calling for his help, but he'd really hoped they'd wait a little longer. He was, despite his service record, a rookie.

He swung around to the side of the cruiser and back on to the sidewalk chewing on his uncle's request. It wasn't nearly as bad as he feared, but still...

Judy stood pensively by the side of the cruiser. Though still catching her breath after playing with the children, she couldn't fully mask the look of concern over her fox partner's time across the street.

 _How much had she heard?_

Judy Hopps's hearing was already legend in the ZPD having cracked numerous cases with just a few directional flicks of her massive ears.

They were also one of the few chinks in the Hopps/Wilde relationship armor. She heard everything—especially in the presence of her favorite fox. She wasn't being purposefully nosey. It was automatic—like a superpower that was beyond full control or mastery.

This led to obvious problems when your partner and best friend was still a very private-minded fox. Did Nick want to be open and trustworthy with Judy? Yes, yes he did. There were many pieces of his past that he wanted to share, but only when he was ready— _not when her hearing allowed her to glean information that he hadn't intended for her to hear._

It was their second official fight. Nick on a phone call with his mother one afternoon while the rabbit was hanging out with him allowed her to piece together what may have happened with Nick's dad long ago. She asked the wrong question too soon after the call and Nick expressed his complete and total displeasure.

It took a literal slap in the face from Finnick, a fox who shared Judy's hearing 'problem', for Nick to realize he was overreacting. He mustered the courage to apologize; she apologized back; they cried it out; Nick made her swear never to tell anyone he was capable of tears.

Nick then tried to tell her what happened with his father but—shockingly—she stopped him.

" _On your time. When you truly are ready," she said taking his paw._

They settled into an unspoken arrangement where Judy didn't ask about things she might have overheard and Nick would frequently reward her by telling her anyway. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. Most of the time.

"My Uncle Harris," he said as if she had asked him who he was talking to. He opened the passenger door for her indicating that he wanted to drive back to head quarters.

"He didn't ask you to use police resources, did he?" she asked after he settled into the driver's seat.

"No, he insisted that I keep it personal."

Judy did an amazing job of hiding it, but this scenario was Fear Number One when it came to Nick. A family member or associate from his past that was on just enough solid ground to call in a favor for something.

In course, Judy had met Nick's mom and sister—incredibly proud and wonderful vixens who radiated with pride at Nick's new life. Beyond that, she had some decent chunks of his family history but not a clear picture. Plus, she didn't know where Nick stood with the rest of his family. His frown as he drove the car away from the square seemed to answer that question.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do if that was going to be your next question," the fox said.

"Actually, my next question was: where are you going to take that fox girl out tonight?" the rabbit said letting a smirk leak onto her face.

Nick released a little tension as the mood had been lightened.

"Dunno, I was thinking...," he paused and shot her a look. "Nice try, Carrots."

"Try? Try what?" came her shocked response.

"You just tried to get me to drop the name of the bar so you could spy on me. Never try to out hustle a hustler."

"I hustle you all day, _everyday_. I hustled you into becoming a cop. Game. Set. Match."

Nick frowned again then put on his shades as if to say, 'Nick is closed. Please come back during regular business hours'.

"What was her name again?" the rabbit asked refusing to leave it alone. "Veronica?"

"You think every vixen is named Veronica because there's a lot of vixens named Veronica. That's speciest."

"So her name _is_ Veronica."

"Ha! It's Sandy!" he said thankful for a claw-hold to stand on against her barrage. "And you're going to rue the day you texted her for me. She's probably got a rich family and we'll get married and we'll travel the world and you'll never see me again. Then what'll you do, sly bunny?"

"Just hustle the next dumb fox I come across into becoming a cop," she said matter-of-factly.

The fox just growled ever so softly.

"You know you love me," the rabbit said giving him a side look.

He tried and failed to stop a smile. This bit never got old between them. He paused for as long as he dared.

"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do."

Judy put on a satisfied smirk which was a complete and total lie.

A part of Judy _was_ rueing the day, but only about ninety-four percent of her. What remaining part of her that wasn't rueing the fact that she had interceded into her partner's love life had established just enough control to keep her in check.

 _You started this,_ she told herself.

She knew that she was still sorting the feelings that his one-year anniversary gift had churned up. She knew she didn't have a firm grasp on what any of it meant only, that, for whatever reason, that stupid silly simple carrot pen had changed something—even if that something was just the ability to openly think about something more with Nick.

She also knew she couldn't suddenly cool him on this vixen, Sandy, without raising suspicion. She was stuck keeping the teasing going because her only relatable experience at this stuff was from middle school. She needed more time to sort her own feelings out and to gauge his feelings—if that was even possible. She had to figure a clever way to stall or draw another clue from her partner without implicating herself.

She was in luck—sort of—if she could only go through with the hare-brained plan without wrecking her conscience. It was actually Nick that had inadvertently provided her with a way, but there was very little about the idea she was happy about.

As they headed back to the station to wrap up the day, she simultaneously hoped she had the gall to pull it off or that she'd totally and completely chicken out. She'd find out in about five hours when Nick went off for his date.

–

Nick. Was. Nervous.

He didn't do dates. He didn't do relationships.

His style was flirt, bed, goodbye. He'd take that information with him to the grave before ever letting Carrots know.

The rouge-hustler charm he'd developed to make a buck was easily adapted to vixens that he came across in his travels. However, he wasn't the impervious heartbreaker he thought himself to be. He tripped and fell in love a couple times only to have the shoe be on the other paw. After getting the other side of the 'it's not you, it's me' treatment, he was in a long stretch of 'working on himself' when the rabbit showed up in his life.

The Kennel was the safest bar in Precinct One as is typically the case of the bar favorited by law enforcement post-shift. Nick had weighed the pros and cons of going somewhere where coworkers might see him versus trying someplace new. He went with having home-bar advantage over being made by a coworker while on a date.

He was early which was bad because it made him weigh every decision. Sit at the bar or grab a table? Order a drink or wait? Stay or go home with a last-minute 'Sorry I'm sick' text?

He sat at the bar. He ordered an old fashioned. He didn't run home because he accidentally answered "tab" when the barbeaver asked. He stared at his old fashioned which, as he thought about it, was the only drink he ever remembered hearing a fox order—mainly his uncle from when he was younger.

His uncle's request wasn't too crazy, but that didn't mean the younger fox was thrilled.

" _I got a polar bear problem."_

" _I can't help you with Mr. Big. At least not like...," Nick had begun._

" _Slow down," Uncle Harris interrupted. "They're not Big's goons. Besides, we've always had an understanding with him."_

" _Then, who are they working for?" Nick had asked._

" _That's what I need to find out. My head-of-security marked one of them as a former heavy for Big, but story goes he got tossed out for being sloppy in an aggressive sort of way."_

Great, _Nick thought._ Rouge polar bear gangster with an attitude problem is just what this city needs right now.

" _So, what have they been doing? Harassing customers? Running up tabs without paying? Winning and then cashing out?"_

" _None of that, Nicky. They come in two-at-a-time. Sit opposite directions from each other, typically at blackjack. Have one drink. Pay for it. Play for an hour then leave."_

 _Nick began flashing back to the his few days trying to join the family business._

 _Wilde Times had been the only legal casino in the city limits before the much glitzier and popular Palm Hotel and Casino in Sahara Square opened. It occupied a small patch of unwanted waterfront under the towering Estuary Bridge connecting the Rain Forest District, Savannah Central, and Downtown._

 _Founded by his great-grandfather as a prohibition speak easy, the 'family business' had grown into the casino and fun park operation that it was today. At it's height, mammals from both sides of the predatory/prey divide mixed and had fun there. You could gamble or ride amusement rides or take in a show. There was always at least one major celebrity there either enjoying themselves or performing._

 _Nick's great-grandfather had put a lot of money in making it a world class joint for all mammals to enjoy. But after the Palm opened, the prey of Zootopia moved most of their gambling business there. Wilde Times remained the casino of choice for predators and interspecies couples even as it fell into disrepair._

 _Long a nuisance—even in the salad days—to the city leadership and moral authorities, the Wildes constantly fought to keep their operation on the level. There were several temporary shutdowns that almost drove them out of business, but they had managed to navigate the right regulatory channel to carry on. The casino had passed down from great-grandfather to grandfather and would have passed to Nick's dad and uncle._

 _But by the time Nick was coming of age and was showing interest in joining the family business, it was just his uncle. His mom refused her husband's share of the business, even to hold in trust for Nicky. The casino had been in a down-cycle at the time attracting all kinds of shady characters and bad influences. She had had enough of Wilde Times and determined her son would never be part of it—even if it may have cost her part of her relationship with him..._

 _To his credit, Nick's Uncle Harris respected her wishes and cut Nicky out. In the time since, he had done very well to clear out the riffraff, renovate the place, and half-way restore it's reputation. So, Nick could understand why he was skittish about rouge mafia heavies showing up in patterns._

" _They're casing the place," Nick stated the obvious._

" _That's my bet."_

 _Nick's shifted his frown._

" _Surely they know better than to hit a casino."_

" _For a quick buck? No way. But if the aim is the casino itself...," Uncle Harris trailed off trying to read Nick. His nephew didn't give him much. "People think Mr. Big has gone soft since his children have started popping out grandkids."_

" _And you think someone wants to make a move on him? Wouldn't be one of the other families. They're making too much money in peace time to start a war. Gotta be an upstart..."_

 _Nick was connecting the dots now. If you were starting your own crime business, you wouldn't go after Mr. Big on his home turf of Tundra Town directly. You'd need to establish a base elsewhere and come in from the side. You'd need someplace to give you legitimacy and a way to grow your bankroll._

 _Wilde Times had long been an alluring target for upstarts to take over and try just that. The last failed attempt had been devastating in consequence and it was a miracle the family held onto the place._

" _That's my guess, Nicky."_

 _Nick broke eye contact with his uncle and looked back at the park. He couldn't see Judy but some kids were still playing while others were being herded home by their parents._

" _I don't know what I can do. Mafia stuff is still above my pay grade."_

" _I don't need you to do anything on the clock. Let's keep that uniform on you nice and clean. But in your free time, it'd be nice if you could pay a visit to Mr. Big. I know you're back in his good graces."_

" _Not entirely," Nick scoffed._ Judy _was the one in Mr. Big's good graces. The fox wasn't sure where he stood._

" _You're close enough. All you have to do let him know some former associates are sniffing around our turf. Ask him if he knows who's bears they are. I'm sure he'd appreciate this get taken care of on our side of town before it becomes his problem."_

 _Nick dramatically sighed and gave his uncle one last look._

" _No promises, but I'll see what I can do."_

" _Thanks... And Nicky, you know I wouldn't ask you if it didn't mean the everything the family has worked for..."_

 _Nick remained silent despite his uncle giving him an appreciative nod before slipping away. Nick grumbled and headed back to the cruiser._

The answers to this new set of problem were unsurprisingly not in his drink which he hadn't touched despite looking deeply into it for minutes.

"Ah-hem," a vaguely familiar voice said.

Nick shook himself out of thought and looked up. His eyes focused on a sleek red-furred vision with matching green eyes to his. She was a bit small for a red fox like him. In fact, she was quite lithe; her fur was almost wispy as it softened the typically sharp lines of the vulpine form. One could be forgiven for thinking she could float on the wind like a feather.

"I was saying, you were supposed to wear the shades, slick," Sandy the fox said with faux disappointment.

It took Nick a second to realize she was actually repeating herself and that he had completely missed what she said the first time.

"They're on stand-bye," he said pulling them partially out of his shirt pocket with a side grin.

The vixen sat down as Nick swiveled his body towards her. The barbeaver was already on them.

"Whatever he ordered," she said half to the bartender and half to Nick.

"Old fashioned," Nick said taking his first actual sip.

He tried his best to subtly check out her outfit, a loose knee-length blue skirt and puffy white sleeveless blouse.

"By the way, thank you," Sandy said sarcastically.

"For what?"

"You lost me a bet with my roommate," she began drawing a raised eyebrow from Nick. "I told her I was going out for a drink with a cop and she immediately guessed you'd want to come here."

"Well, this is off to a great start. I wasn't wearing the shades. I cost you a bet. Let's see what I got up my sleeve for strike three."

"We could both be home by ten at the rate you're going," she giggled. Nick laughed too as he noticed the subtle yet not-so-subtle touch she applied to his elbow. His heart rate jumped about a thousand beats per minute.

The barbeaver returned with her drink.

"On my tab," Nick said to the bucktoothed rodent who was paying for architecture classes bartending. The fox tuned back to his date. "Tell me when I've covered your loss in drinks."

"Already angling for that second and third date, then?"

 _She's one part sass, a thousand parts fire,_ he couldn't help thinking. _Game on._

"Or I could just call it a night and mail you a check," he said with a bit of pushback. He got the glib corner lip curl out of her that he was going for. "So, how'd your roommate know we'd be coming here?"

"She's a public defender. I'm an assistant district attorney. "

 _Hot damn,_ Nick thought not really trying to hide his mild shock.

"She works cases in your precinct. I work cases out of Precinct Three. Maybe you've met her? Regina Claswson. She's a badger."

"Nope, not yet. Haven't actually had a case I worked go to trial, so I haven't met too many lawyers."

"Well, she knows you. And that partner of yours. She was shocked that you were, what's the word, _available_ for drinks on the weekend."

She left the sentence dangling. Nick picked up on it and got a tinge of nausea.

"We're not dating. We're just close friends, partners, and we live together," Nick gambled with complete honesty wrapped in sarcasm. He earned a smirk that did not imbue trust.

"Strike two-and-a-half," he said lifting his drink and taking a pull.

There was a heavy pause before his ears were filled with a full laugh from the female fox.

"More like strikes five and six," she managed through her chuckle. She also managed her second touch of the night—this time to Nick's shoulder.

It was all flooding back to him now washing away the years of rust when it came to females.

 _She's totally in to me._

The alarm bells started sounding. Panic rang out in his head. Calls went out to abandon ship. Females and kits first! No, every fox for himself! He needed a drink and fast. Then he remembered the drink already in his hand.

There was another heavy pause in conversation. Nick took a another drink and decided to dig down deep.

"So, I uh...," he began acting as though he was checking all his pockets. "...thought I had my conversation cheat cards with me, but I guess I forgot. I think one of them was about talking about where we each went to school."

"Hornel Law," she replied a bit softer than they had been bantering at. "And relax. I haven't done this in a long time either."

He received her first non-sarcastic smile of the night as she briefly played with the fur below her ear. The alarms bells were silenced. Calm returned. The females and kits were removed from the life boats. This was going to be okay.

And then it wasn't.

As Nick looked at Sandy, a mammal entered the bar right behind her head in his field of vision.

His brain _knew_ it was her, but at the same time it didn't. Because... because... Judy didn't wear dresses. Judy didn't carry a small purse. Judy most certainly did not wear eyeliner and lip gloss—which his extra sharp fox vision could see almost glistening around her mouth. This had to be a mistake, his mistake. He was bound to run into a rabbit that looked just like...

They locked eyes.

Nah, yeah. It was her. Her grimace matched his.

His brain was still pouring over all the data and information it had stored on the bunny named Judy Hopps to come up with either an explanation or a solution when the call came in for everyone to stop what they were doing and look.

Sandy was turning _back_ to him after very clearly turning to see what _he_ _had been looking at._

His eyes met the vixen's.

 _Strike Seven! Eight! Nine! You're out!_


	5. Just Like Planned

A/N: Apologies in advance for spelling/grammar. It's late (or early) but I really wanted to get this chapter up. It's a doozy ;) I'll clean up the mess tomorrow...

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 4 – Just as Planned**

* * *

 _Mis-take!_ Called a chorus of voices in Judy's head.

 _Mistake. Mistake. Mistake._

Judy stood awkwardly in the entrance of The Kennel.

Awkward because she was in heels for maybe the third time in her life.

Awkward because, while she wore dresses all the time to the surprise of her co-workers, the breezy sun dress she was wearing was hanging lower than she remembered it doing in the dressing room at the mall—more fur than she was used to was sticking out the top and more leg out the bottom as well.

Awkward because she felt her eyes trying to stick together every time she blinked because her eyeliner had gooped on her and her lipgloss made her think there was something on her lips that she needed to wipe away every ten seconds.

And, oh yeah, awkward because she hadn't expected to immediately find _and_ make eye contact with Nick. But she had. He was there... at the bar, with whatever-her-name was.

This was the price she paid for always charging into to whatever situation she encountered with a half-cocked plan and a handful of prayers and _she knew it._

She saw the vixen turn to her—to see what Nick was looking at—and Judy mirrored Nick's somewhat horrified expression. The rabbit did not take her eyes off of Nick.

Just as the girl fox, _why can't I remember her name,_ turned back to Nick, the rabbit was bumped from behind.

"Crowded in here," a moderately handsome late-20's business rabbit said as he took up a post next to his date.

Judy watched Nick's grimace shift to a whirlwind of confusion as it became clear that Judy was here with... _someone else._

"Always," Judy said shaking out of her daze as Nick broke eye contact with her. Judy's eyes began to dart around for an empty table. She spotted one and turned to her date hoping to get him seated without further complica...

"Hey! That's your partner!" whatever-his-name, another critically important detail Judy's brain had misplaced, said enthusiastically.

"It sure is!" Judy said through her teeth.

She really wanted to know why her legs were moving forward taking her to Nick and... _Sandy, that was her name_ , her brain finally pulled it out of the depths. This wasn't the plan—to hurtle straight towards Nick in the most awkward fashion possible.

They were supposed to casually notice each other much later in the evening allowing her to effortlessly play the 'what a coincidence' card. She just wanted him to see her with someone else and plant a little bug in his ear that she was active on the market—and maybe also for him to see her in something that wasn't ZPD standard issue.

They'd have a conversation when they each got home about their 'dates'. She would nod and chirpily say 'uh-huh' as he told her about the vixen all the while imagining her locked in a crate hurtling over a waterfall. At her turn, Judy would tell Nick that what's-his-name was 'nice and all' but was already looking to start a family—which every bunny their age was burning up to do—but she wasn't and that she was thinking she might have to look outside her species to fulfill any romantic needs. But, you know, in a completely subtle way.

 _Dumbest. Plan. Ever,_ she thought as they arrived at what she expected to be the gallows of the Hopps/Wilde friendship.

"What a coincidence!" she said with an overtly pensive smile. The two foxes were now both turned to her and her date. She hoped her eyes weren't screaming but she knew they were.

"Hi, _Judy_ ," Nick said with heavy emphasis on her name—the same type of emphasis her mom would use when she was in trouble. "What a coincidence indeed!"

They locked eyes and a very silent argument ensued.

 _What are you doing here?!_ Nick's eyes yelled.

 _I don't know!_ Judy's eyes yelled back.

 _What do you mean you don't..._

"Who's your friend?" Sandy said as more of a statement than a question.

She wasn't bailing Judy out as much as she was stirring the pot to see what would float to the top. Her initial reaction was exactly what you would expect for a female on her first date with a male who's rather attractive—Sandy would give the rabbit that—friend/partner/roommate showed up. She screamed at herself to ditch, but when she realized that Judy was _apparently_ on a date herself—something that Sandy was not entirely ready to give the rabbit—she at least decided to see where this would go. Maybe she could even grab a stick and poke for fun.

The ZPD's two finest broke off their visual spat trying to figure out who had just been addressed. Judy realized it was her.

"This is...," _please godohpleasepleaseplease let his name be:_ "Brandt."

"Brandt Turnipseed," the rabbit said taking Nick's paw into a shake—Judy's sigh of relief was audible but she didn't care. "I've read all about you, Officer Wilde... and Judy of course. And you are?"

Brandt took the initiative, without any fear or hesitation in the presence of _two_ foxes, to introduce himself to Sandy. Judy heard her mother's voice again admonishing her for her horrid manners.

"Sandy Howlton," said the girl fox as her smile began to grow snarky. "Our cop friends here seem to have very limited preferences when it comes to bars."

"At least there's no smoking," Brandt replied with a chuckle. "Asthma."

"Had it when I was younger. Somehow grew out of it," Sandy said as if she was fully and completely enjoying herself now.

Judy looked at Nick's drink desperate for one of her own while also desperate to avoid Nick's look which she could feel burning her fur. Their respective dates were now running the conversation. It was a disaster. No, a catastrophe.

" _We go live to the scene with News 6 reporter, Alan Paca. What's the latest, Alan?" Peter Moosebridge asked from the news set._

" _Well, Peter," began the fluffy headed alpaca in front of the police-barricaded bar. "We're still sorting through the early reports, but apparently ZPD officer Judy Hopps crashed the date of her fellow officer, Nick Wilde, in an apparent attempt to gain his attentions. We have conflicting reports about whether she was acting alone or with an accomplice, her own date, who may or may not also be a hostage. What we do know is that this is a tense hostage situation. ZPD has cordoned off the area. No one in or out."_

" _What about the other patrons in the bar? Any word on them?" Moosebridge asked._

" _Not at this time. But I spoke with Chief Bogo just a minute ago. We have a clip..."_

" _Every effort has been made to establish contact," the chief thundered. "Once we know what Ms. Hopps is after and what the state of the others are in the bar, we can begin to better assess the situation. Our priority is the safe release of the hostages and a peaceful end to the standoff."_

" _As you heard," the reporter resumed on camera live. "It's still a very fluid and tense situation. Alan Paca, reporting live from downtown for Action News 6. Peter, back to you."_

"EARTH. TO. CARROTS." Nick said snapping his fingers in front Judy's short snout.

Three sets of eyes were trained on her as she came out of her daydream.

"Right, well," she stammered. "We didn't mean to interrupt you guys. We'll let you get back to... Bye!"

Judy wasn't even aware that she had been asked 'where did you two meet?'

The rabbit was blushing blood red under her coat which would have been fine if the inside of her ears were covered with fur. Nick, Sandy, and whoever-he-was, _Brian? Brad?_ could only gawk at her in confusion. She grabbed her date's paw and led him back to what, mercifully, was still an open table away from Nick and Sandy.

Nick blinked rapidly as he watched them go. Her date took the seat facing him which he supposed was for the best. Constant eye contact with his partner was a recipe for further trouble. But... so was the fact that Judy's leg protruded from the slit in her dress in his full view.

He shook himself to his senses and looked back at his date expecting to die from her glare. Instead, he was on the receiving end of a mischievous smirk from the vixen. It was as if she was super excited about the wicked-awesome train wreck she just saw and she couldn't wait to go around to everyone yelling, 'You know the train wreck? I saw it! It was amazing!'

She parted her mouth to speak but Nick halted her with a single 'wait-just-a-minute' finger. He turned to the bar, picked up his drink, and downed it like a shot. After slamming the glass down, he motioned to the barbeaver.

"I'll have another."

He half-turned to Sandy in time for her to grab her drink, lift it with a knowing smile as if to toast him, and knock it back with matching gusto.

"Make that two!" she called slamming her glass down as well.

–

Nick's paws assaulted the pavement on the walk back to the apartment. He needed to burn off the mix of energy and anger and confusion and hormones before he got back. His plan wasn't working.

He wanted to fixate on the fact that he seemed to have salvaged the evening with Sandy. They very naturally began swapping stories about the stupid criminals they had encountered in their respective lines of work. He got some good jokes in. She had some zingers of her own. Truly, not a bad way to get back into the swing of dating.

But Nick knew that he was likely destined to be one of Sandy's 'let me tell you about this one date I went on' war stories.

 _Because of that dumb bunny. That dumb_ sexy _bunny._ Even his blistering hot angry mind had to give her...

 _Wait! No! Not sexy,_ he tried to shake the thought out of his head. _She did NOT look amazing tonight. Nope. Not his Carrots. Not with her deeply earnest purple eyes and fuzzy tail that he was frequently tempted to..._

 _Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!_

 _No, she's a manipulative hustler._

He wasn't going to buy for a minute—no, a second—that she just happened to be on a date at the same bar and at the same time. She was hustling him. He just hadn't cracked her endgame yet.

 _She set you up on a date then tries to blow the damn thing up? What?!_

 _And Brandon? Brent? What the hell was his name? Like he had a chance._

Nick could still see her leg hanging delicately off the side of her chair—an image which he was desperately trying not to commit to memory because... reasons. She was twirling a flower anklet she had on with her other foot. She always twirled things with her paws and feet when she was bored out of her fur.

She was hustling the fox, but he was not going to be her mark. Not this time.

He barely noticed that he had made the one hour walk home in roughly forty minutes. He was still huffing. Still amped. Still slightly buzzed.

He hoped she had gone to bed so he could sleep on it and calm down and get a more rationale explanation together. He had watched them leave the bar much earlier than he and Sandy. She didn't even turn to look back at him when they did. But he did notice the not-so-subtle 'nice meeting you; have a nice life' goodbye she gave the other dumb bunny.

He walked into their warehouse/apartment door and the first thing he saw was a set of ears dangling off the couch. The TV was on some fur restoring infommercial. Was she waiting up for him?

Her ears sprang to attention followed by the rest of her.

"Nick."

Yes, yes she was.

"Fluff, I can't even...," he seethed walking passed her and their 'living room' setup to get to his trailer parked in the middle of the warehouse floor.

"Nick! Stop!" Judy shouted hopping up to face him. "I can explain!"

His foot stopped on the first step to the trailer that housed his room. He turned slowly to face her with a look that was not at all playful or inviting.

Judy's evening had been much less successful and this was certainly not going to be the cherry on top.

Bryce or Brendon was a total bore. His family owned a produce distributorship in Zootopia and he was looking to settle down before they handed the reigns to him. He was polite and courteous and Ma & Pa Hopps would be _overjoyed_ to have him as a son-in-law.

So, yeah. Ugh.

"I know that looked a little..., sabotagey," Judy said tripping on the gerry-rigged word.

"More like you were caught cutting the brake lines while still under the car," Nick replied flatly.

"Okay," the rabbit conceded. She was dancing on ice with butter for skates. "So I may have wanted to see what you... er, I thought I could go on a date too?"

"With what's his name again?"

Judy bit her lip. She wasn't drunk, but she was emotionally amped up and slightly buzzed herself.

"Bri-chard?"

"Where did you even find that guy?" Nick asked with a bit of needling added in.

"Technically you found him...," Judy sassed back.

Nick pinched his entire face shut with a groan. He had followed up on his threat to put up a Judy Hopps Mate dot com profile as revenge for the rabbit texting Sandy on his behalf. She made a mental note to send him all _wonderful_ emails she received from the hoards of tactless suitors that profile solicited.

"Well, I'm very happy for you both. You know where to send the wedding invite," Nick growled as he started to turn go to his room. Judy hopped across the remaining distance and grabbed his arm.

"Nick I'm sorry! Okay! I didn't know what to do!"

Nick turned away from her and ditched his plan to go to his room. He headed for the kitchen instead.

"Well, you could have just let me go on a simple..."

Several feet away, he stopped and her turned back to her.

"What do you mean 'you didn't know what to do'? Do about what?"

Judy blushed harder than she did earlier at the bar. She suppressed the urge to run and a very strong urge to vomit. The half-cocked plan was in shreds. All she had now were the prayers.

"About you and me and us and things..."

Nick's jaw hung open in a bout of indignation. The rabbit was avoiding eye contact but finally lifted her eyes to him.

"Us?! You...," he said almost pointing his snout for emphasis. "Practically _made_ me go out with her!"

"You're right! I did! And then you gave me that stupid amazing gift and I didn't know what to think anymore!"

"Unbelievable," he said much softer as his shoulders sagged. "Are my emotions just a plaything to you?

"Emotions? Emotions?!" Judy fired back oddly confident for her position. "If you consider cocky and sarcasm emotions, yeah, maybe. You _never_ genuinely open up to me."

"I open up to you plenty!"

"I can count on one paw, Wilde. I still only know, like three things about you!"

"Sounds like one of us thinks we are in a relationship now. Well, I didn't get the memo!"

"Maybe we are and we just didn't notice it! We live together, we work together, we hang together. We're partners and best friends. And I open up to you all the time and I hardly ever get anything in return. Why don't you ever open up to me?

"Because I didn't think you'd be open to dating a predator, okay! And I wasn't going to lay every emotion out there if there couldn't be anything more between us," Nick said more emphatically than he wanted. Somehow, this fight had been flipped. Judy's silence was more crushing than anything she'd said so far.

"I wouldn't be open?" she asked rhetorically and sternly in her most desperate hailmary of the night. "I will admit that I have made mistakes but I am not some backwoods speciest hick!"

"No, of course not!" Nick said his frustration at the turn of events mounting.

"But you assumed!" she fired back tears forming in her eyes.

Neither of them noticed that they had closed the gap between them. They were both within a foot or two of each not backing down in word or posture. They were too consumed with winning the fight.

"Ass-u-me! Just like you assumed you could rearrange my love life to fulfill you every whim," Nick gritted bringing the tip of his snout within inches of hers. He didn't even realize he was bearing some of his teeth.

Judy was too upset to listen to her primal alarm bells that a hungry predator was growling in front of her. In fact, she had just about had it with the games and wondering and the unknown.

Her mouth was deeply locked to his before she even thought to grab the sides of his face with her paws. She used every bit of her deceptive strength to keep him locked in until she was done.

When she did release him, he snapped back and out of her immediate kissing range. He was still nearly sneering but was also confused and even disgusted. He looked down at Judy who was totally and completely defiant.

"Way to prove my point!" he shouted mixed with a growl.

She was going to respond, probably goading him somehow, but she didn't get a chance. He damn near knocked her front teeth out as he went to kiss her twice as hard as she kissed him. His paws also found their way to the sides of her head to keep her locked until _he was done_.

When he finally released her, they were now panting heavily and shooting death glares at each other.

They launched a fury of kisses and nips at the other as if they meant to do damage or knock the other out. Paws began, not passionately petting, but grabbing and tugging fur and clothing.

They were still 'fighting'-neither of them wanted to yield or back off. As if the first to disengage from this oddly channeled outburst of anger would be declared the loser. Their hormones had taken the place of their angry words.

Nick was using his height advantage forcing her to get higher and higher on her tippy toes. Judy finally decided to negate it by jumping, wrapping her arms around his neck, and wrapping her legs around his torso. The fox wasn't ready and lost his balance straight back on the couch. The rabbit tried hard to keep him pinned and, if this was a wrestling tournament, she would have earned a point. But despite her sneaky strength, the fox was too much for her and he flipped them both over.

Now on top, Nick pushed up on his paws and knees to deny her easy access. Her arms were able to pull him down enough for her to continue her attacks, but he was winning. Right until she hooked her legs over his rear and pulled him straight down into her. Their hips connected—and while still fully clothed—the surge of electricity that raced between them was more powerful than the tasers they had to endure during academy training.

They were jolted out of the literal fog of scents, hormones, and pheromones. They both stopped the kissing and pulling and tugging. Nick pushed himself up with his arms again.

The anger was gone from both their faces. In its place, was not-quite fear not quite-regret not quite-shame. Undeniable uncertainty was more like it. Their lower regions remained in contact for several more seconds. Unspoken, they unlocked at the same time.

Nick stood up, his look becoming blank and distant. He offered his paw to Judy who's look was more of inward shock than anything else. She allowed him to help her to her feet.

Another agonizing few seconds passed.

"So, I, uh," Nick began weakly with a point to his door.

"Yeah, me too," Judy said even weaker pointing a thumb over her shoulder to her room.

The pair straightened their fur and clothes as best they could. They could at least share a little dignity as they walked away from each other.

The fog was still very heavy and very volatile but higher brain functions were both coming back on line for the rabbit and the fox. Nick's foot audibly collided with his bottom step at about the same time as Judy turned the handle to her door.

Nick looked back. Judy was already looking at him.

They may have stood that way for a second or it may have been several minutes, but at some point grey and red streaks closed the gap between them.

There was no kissing this time, but there were immense looks of desire as Judy buried the side of her cheek into the top of Nick's exposed chest. He rubbed his cheek and muzzle over the top of her head. She moved her way up his neck and to the side of his face while he leaned down passing her on the reverse trip.

She marked the top of his head and both sides of his face. He responded in kind along the top of her chest and shoulders. As he moved back up to mark her ears, she worked on his paws. He pulled her paws up to his cheeks to wrap things up as she once again buried herself into his chest hoping to get her scent all the way passed his fur and into his bones.

They finished with a long embrace seemingly waiting for their breathing to come down together.

Finally, they broke.

The look they shared wasn't quite an affirmation—of anything—but there wasn't anger, shock, or shame. It was entirely new and neither of them knew what it was.

"G'night," they said simultaneously. They both moved to get passed each other but blocked one way and then the other. Finally, Nick stepped aside to let Judy pass.

Once they made it back to their rooms, they listened for the clicks of the other closing their door behind them before they shared one more thing that night. A single thought:

 _What in the hell just happened?!_


	6. That New Car Smell

A/N: Thanks to Tron1997, njlopez, Ergo proxy, crecent the eclipse, Danny-171984 ChaoticImp, ktrk5, Lola, , Robert Escher, Cimar or Turalis WildeHopps, Pyrophoricity, DdraigDan, zenith88, Diaz Chatnoir, Flipside Remix, Froggypie, JekKey X, Kai-Zr, Wolf Guard Miestwin, Lorelalaley, Sappopo, and Irual for reading and reviewing! Leave a review (or ask a question) and I'll write you back!

This chapter was delayed because it's actually a super chapter. Much much longer than the previous ones. But I hope it was worth the wait and all the spelling and grammar errors you'll have to put up with.

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 5 – That New Car Smell**

* * *

Judy stirred from something that resembled sleep. Her first sense to activate was her smell and it was overloaded with _him._ She swept her arms out and expected to collide with the fox—falling asleep together had happened in the past so it wasn't a surprise—but she didn't feel him. Her brain was still in the process of booting up so it wasn't making the connection. _How could she smell him that strongly and yet he not be right there?  
_

Someone in her brain finished the long sprint from the back gasping for air but holding out a piece of paper with the relevant memory.

 _Holy guacamole..._ she thought as she remembered what happened.

She bolted upright with a huge deep open-mouthed breath only to be flooded by even more of his scent. Not only could she smell Nick, she could taste him too. Her face pinched closed as she groaned.

He had marked her. No, they had marked _each other._ They had marked each other _good._

 _Why couldn't we have just had sex?_ the rabbit lamented with her controlled logical side of her brain. Meanwhile, her emotional, impulsive, romantic, and biological sides were popping champagne bottles and donning little party hats.

Sex would have been simpler. Sex could be one and done or be a casual ongoing affair. But sex could be—most of the time—covered up from other mammals.

Scent marking though...

Judy swung her legs over her bed and looked at her alarm clock.

 _8:13am_

Even on off days like this, she was normally up at the same time she normally would be for work. She did not, however, feel like she had slept in with any benefit. She very quietly made for the bathroom after realizing she had slept in her dress. The rabbit kept a sharp ear out for Nick hoping that he was still asleep. She picked up a snore.

That fox could sleep.

After she was done, she got back to her room and began to change. She thought briefly of showering to start the process of—and her heart pained at the thought—neutralizing Nick's scent. She fought off the urge to think it was her _not_ _wanting_ to remove his scent—that she wanted to keep it on her. She concocted an excuse that if she tried before she talked to Nick, it could hurt his feelings. Plus, at the depths they had tagged each other, it would take weeks before the scents could be fully removed.

Instead, the rabbit donned her typical gardening outfit, her pink-checked shirt and jeans, and once again exited her room. She paused at her room's entrance.

Every once in awhile, she took in their living arrangement and marveled in disbelief.

The warehouse Nick had 'converted' into a living space was still just a day's work away from being converted back into a more industrial use. The fox had rolled a perfectly good outdoor silver camping trailer into the middle of the space. He had created a 'living room' in the space between the camper and the offices along the wall. A couple sets of string lights zig-zagged back and forth over a mismatched couch, a pair of chairs, a coffee table made out of a 'Rainforest District -' directional sign, and a top of the line television resting on a dresser that would have worked better in a bedroom.

Judy's room would have been the foremammal's office in the corner farthest from the front door and garage door. The bathroom was in between her room and the kitchen—a break room Nick had finished out with even more second hand appliances and furniture. The shower was a converted eye wash station along the back wall. When Nick had lived alone, a simple curtain sufficed, but once Judy had continued to live with him, he built a more private complete stall out of—one would of course guess—pieces of scrap.

His place didn't look like a junkyard, however. All of Nick's decorating and construction choices had a certain bohemian flair to them. Everything he brought in was still in good working condition and somewhat nice. They clashed in just the right way. The fox's converted warehouse apartment was a perfect extension of his personality.

And Judy, even while denying her deepest feelings for him, _loved_ his personality. _And his tail. And his..._

She was getting sidetracked, but the fact that his place was 'so Nick Wilde' was a major contributing factor to her drastically over-staying her welcome. He didn't have to be there for her to be with him.

Her old place was a dump but it was the neighbors' constant arguments and, ahem, _apologies_ that finally made her leave. However, Judy was in that apartment because the housing market in Zootopia was as intense as any primitive hunt from ancient history. After several weeks of fruitless searches and sleepless nights, Nick finally offered his guest room. The offer was more of a demand after the bunny fell asleep on his shoulder in the bullpen one morning as Bogo handed out assignments. She earned the pair his first day of parking duty since joining the force.

The arrangement was temporary—just a place to sleep until she found a better place than she had prior.

Several big cases working long nights and a couple months of little to no weekends later, the pair had fallen into an unspoken agreement that they were de facto roommates. Nick never said a word about rent. Judy never said a word about possible improvements. They'd just happen, like Nick walling off the shower for more privacy or Judy keeping things clean and orderly.

Things that were Judy's slowly made their way into the apartment, but the she kept them small and useful. That was until she was sent home from a visit with her parents with a pair of blueberry bushes— _along with the standard crate that Nick had come to expect._

Judy had an idea of what to do with them. They needed sunlight and space and she was pretty sure she could quickly divide them into several more blueberry bushes. So, she hauled them to the roof.

They looked very odd by themselves on the vast roof of the apartment. They needed friends. Judy had thought about it before, but didn't want to finally cross the line of Nick's hospitality by installing a miniature Hopps Family Farm branch on the roof of his place. So, she did what he would do: she hustled him.

She picked a few of the undersized blueberries her new bushes had produced and placed them in fridge while hiding the full crate of fresh blueberries in her room. When a giddy Nick came home expecting her to have returned from her family's farm with his favorite treat, it was fair to say he was disappointed by the handful of dinky runts he found.

Judy fibbed by telling him her parents couldn't keep sending crates and crates for free. They were running a business after all, but they had given her a pair of bushes to perhaps supply their own.

Nick stood on the roof with her staring at the two tiny plants in the middle of the expansive rooftop. He audibly 'hrmmed' to himself as if he was thinking. Judy, standing next to him, barely had her head turned to him preferring to eye him from an angle.

"You know...," he began as if he were about to have his own original idea.

 _Hook. Line. Sinker,_ the rabbit thought.

Within weeks, the Hopps Family Farm had a Zootopia branch filling the urban space with sorted varieties of flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Judy's lack of outgoing cash flow for monthly rent fueled her rapid expansion. Her parents sent her loads of spare implements and all sorts of Hopps branded tools and materials.

The last remaining task she had to complete—and also the biggest part of the endeavor—was setting up the carrot patch. That was her goal for the week, at least until she teased Nick into going on a date with some vixen and all hell had broken loose.

Judy now looked over the quiet apartment straining to hear any sign of Nick stirring. She heard another very light snore and very softly moved to the ladder that gave them access to the roof.

Once on the roof, she was relieved that the scents of the miniature farm gave her something to smell in addition to Nick's scent. She wondered what it was going to be like for him when he woke up and got a muzzle full of Judy. She pushed that thought aside and set to work.

She had rimmed the roof with flowering fruits and berries. Towards one end there were lettuce, cabbage, onions, and herbs. The other end had a small bench and table for sitting and would eventually be shaded by a pair of fledgling lemon trees. The remaining space was now filled with several rows of raised long large planter boxes.

Judy had impressed Nick with her farm girl ability to build things making sure they would drain properly to prevent roof damage. All that remained was to tear into the mountainous stack of soil bags and begin filling the planter boxes—and of course planting the carrot seeds.

Nick was pledged to help her as it was a bigger undertaking than she initially thought, but she got to work without him because she needed to mull things over alone. The rabbit moved the first bag out of the pile and dumped its contents into the first planter. She was mostly finished with the first box when she allowed herself to think again.

 _We marked each other...,_ she thought hollowly. _Like we were..._

In modern mammal society, there were only two reasons to mark another animal:

They were your life-mate.

Or...

They were your child and you needed to tell them apart from the others.

The second reason was critically important in places like Bunny Burrow.

As for the first reason, this was the cause for crushing concern.

Judy Hopps, of sound mind and body— _she knew she hadn't had enough to drink the previous night_ —marked Nicholas Wilde. And Nicholas Wilde, of sound mind and body, had marked her back.

She remembered back to middle school and the special assembly on health they made all the mammals attend. They were divided into boys and girls, obviously, but she remembered the school nurse, a sheep, playing the video for them, _Descent in to Scent!_

It was typical school sponsored sex education fodder: _You'll be noticing all these new hormones and feelings and the opposite sex will become oddly appealing to you. You're body will urge you to find the male or female you like and mark them with your scent. But marking was for serious life-mates only._

 _Much shame and embarrassment would befall the couple who marked too soon. Or worse, to the female who fell for the sweet words of a dastardly male who promised to love her forever if she'd only let him mark and mate only to leave her the next day._

There were many other caveats to marking, but none more important than 'marking was for mates only'.

She'd never heard of anyone doing it to show basic affection or to say they were sorry or congratulations or happy birthday or to say hello.

 _So why in blue blazes did they choose to mark each other?!_ Judy thought as she stabbed her hand trowel into the freshly laid soil.

All the rabbit cop was trying to do was buy herself some time to think about the _possibility_ of a romantic relationship with Nick _and without an actual word to the affirmative, they skipped all the steps and went straight to marking each other as..._

...again, she stopped short of using _that_ word.

Could they be? Would they be? _Should they be?_

The celebratory parts of her were cursing her conflicted parts wondering why they were trying to kill the party.

Ugh. This was so frustrating. They were boxed in with no good options.

They couldn't cover it up. They worked with highly-trained detectives. Many had senses of smell better than Nick's. They also couldn't be together simply to avoid the embarrassment of saying they accidentally marked each other in a fit of passion.

But they also couldn't be just friends—who were arguing, by the way—one minute and m... _mates..._ the next.

The word finally broke through her defenses and emblazoned itself on the center stage of her mind.

 _Mates._

Then she shuddered.

 _This is crazy._

She gulped for air as she suddenly went flush. Nothing from her mother's imparted knowledge and wisdom nor her training at the academy had prepared her for a situation like this.

Or had it?

She was an aspiring detective. She was good at solving mysteries.

 _Okay. It's like a crime scene... Figure it out. Add up the evidence. What story emerges?_

Did she like Nick?

 _Yes._

Were they friends?

 _Yes. Best of._

Did she like spending time with him?

 _Maybe too much..._

Did she trust him?

 _With her life._

Did he make her happy?

 _Even when he was being irritatingly snarky. Maybe more so then._

Do you want to see him happy?

 _More than own self._

Why had she changed her mind about the vixen?

 _Because then I wouldn't see him as much..._

If he couldn't be with _her_ romantically because you'd lose time with him, then who could he be with?

 _..._ and there it was. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

It was profoundly unfair of her. She couldn't block him from pursuing a relationship with someone else while she sorted her own feelings. She was either going to have to be all-in or all-out. She closed her eyes again.

So, did she love him?

 _I_ …

Do. You. Love. Him?

 _Yes._

Does he love you?

…

...and there was the other shoe to drop. She knew he loved her, but she didn't know if it was in _that way_.

But wait! He kissed her! He marked her!

Or was that just him being caught in the moment? Was that what he really felt or was that biology rearing its ugly head? What if, at the end of the day, he just didn't feel the same way about her as she did about him? That would be devastating and embarrassing if he pulled back like that. Not that she could or would blame him.

It was the missing piece of the puzzle and until he gave it to her, the case would remain unsolved. The rabbit realized that this whole stupid week was more about figuring out how the fox felt about her than how she felt about him.

 _Way to make a complete mess of it,_ she cursed herself.

As she began to dig out trenches to plant the first carrot seeds, she weakly began to think of ways she could possibly salvage their partnership and friendship if he wasn't interested. They could take a break from hanging out; they could ask for temporary new partners under some excuse to learn about others on the force; she could move out...

Suddenly, having to navigate becoming mates overnight didn't seem like such a bad option.

She stopped working again and closed her eyes.

 _Okay, Hopps, think. What do you really want? When you close your eyes and think of the future, what do you see? Whatever that it is, go for it..._

She really made an effort to clear out every last detail of the previous week, to truly let her mind go blank. Once it did, it wasn't so much what she saw as what she felt. Certain colors. Certain feelings. Certain sounds. Certain smells. A wave of warmth came over her. They all came together, not forming an image so much as a vision. She slowly uncurled a smile and opened her eyes...

...to see a carrot and strawberry smoothie floating in front of her face. Well, not so much floating as it was being held by a rusty colored paw. She blinked to get her bearings and turned to see Nick standing over her and staring at her through his trademark shades. He was holding a paper coffee cup for himself. He must have gone out for drinks and somehow snuck up on her.

The rabbit took the smoothie and got to her feet with a very soft 'thank you'. She took a decent sized draw from it not realizing she had worked herself thirsty. She held it with both paws and squared up to him.

They sized each other up. Nick's shades made it more difficult. She avoided looking too much away as if that would make her look weak but she had trouble looking at him too. He was blank. She was going to have to crack his mask to find out what she needed to know.

 _This is it, Hopps. Now or never._

The words were forming. They tumbled down from her brain and crashed onto each other in the back of her throat. She parted her lips and her breath pushed out of her lungs.

"If you want, I could still use your help getting the soil into the other planters."

 _Bingo! Way to be brave and... Wait. What?_

Nick shifted his head to indicate he was looking at the stacks of soil bags, then without a word, nodded and set to work.

Judy stood still and once he was out of sight, rolled her eyes at her own self.

She let him do all the heavy lifting and dumping. As soon as a box was full of soil, she would smooth it out and start to dig the lines for carrot seeds and plant them. Once he finished getting all the planter boxes full of soil, he followed her lead. She got him a hand trowel of his own, a few packs of seeds, and only broke the silence to tell him how far down and how far apart to space them.

She allowed herself a brief smile at the site of a former con artist fox planting carrot seeds, but otherwise, made due with the fact he was there and hadn't (yet) delivered any bad news.

Eventually, they were down to the last row in the last box working near side by side. They covered the last of the seeds with dirt working towards each other as if by design.., maybe..., she hoped. When their paws covered the last of bit of dirt, she was startled when the fox very deliberately put his paw on hers. She gulped before looking up at him. This may be the moment of truth.

It wasn't fair that he was still in his shades as they looked at each other. Judy was actually getting kind of annoyed by it. She slipped her paw out from under his and then sat down leaning agains the planter box. He did the same.

The gap between them was small, but it might as well been the span of the ocean.

* * *

Nick awoke that morning on his stomach—a fairly typical position to avoid flattening the fur on his tail. His brain instantly reloaded the evening's events and his matching damp mood.

 _Great,_ he thought as his first registered smell of the day was Judy. _Did she mark the inside of my nose?!_

Nearly, was the answer, among other places.

He rolled out of bed and exited his trailer not really caring if he made too much noise. His anger had returned as he had laid sleeplessly most of the night. It wasn't directed at Judy, but more towards himself and the situation. Sure, his best friend and partner single-handedly created this storm of emotional and hormonal chaos, but part of him wanted to give her credit for doing such a spectacular job of making it a catastrophe.

He glanced over the warehouse apartment and noticed her door was open. She wasn't in there nor the kitchen. Bathroom maybe? A sound grabbed one of his ears and he turned to the ladder to the roof. Looking up, he saw the roof hatch was open and figured out where the bunny was.

 _Of course..._

He quickly did his morning routine and exited the apartment quietly. He wanted to walk about and maybe get a little separation. Saturday mornings in the enclave of Vixburg were notoriously slow paced. The predominantly vulpine population slept long hours. Only a few places would open early to serve the odd-early risers like Nick and the small community of non-foxes that lived in their midst.

Early on, Nick hadn't revealed where he lived to Judy—until she earned him a day of parking duty by falling asleep while Bogo handed out assignments one morning a couple months after he joined the force.

When he told her, her face fell flat and he couldn't blame her for speciesm this time.

Vixburg was notorious for such high rates of crime and treachery that the ZPD didn't even send patrols there. It was said that a mammal could start driving at one end of Vixburg and by the time they got to the other side, they'd be walking... and naked... and wouldn't even realize it.

That's how good those sneaky foxes were at hustling mammals out of their possessions. The smaller mammals of Zootopia swore they each knew at least one by-gone relative that had become fox supper. Of course, they had never actually met said relative, but they had heard! They had heard...

If only they'd known that all those horrible stories of cons, hustles, and other nefarious crimes were rumors gently massaged by the foxes themselves... It was not the most elegant solution to carve out a place where they weren't judged—where they could walk the streets freely—but the idea that the world was only going to see them one way was around long before Nick learned that lesson for himself. Why not use it to their advantage?

The rumors kept other mammals out, save for a select few who were vouched for, and the foxes had a place in Zootopia where they could be foxes. So, when Nick brought a nose-twitching Judy through the streets on the way to show her his place, it was quite a day of intrigue. However, with Nick's endorsement and her 'try to make the world a better place' spirit, she was quickly accepted as a Vixburgean.

Nick's paws carried him to his favorite tea and coffee house. He was on auto-pilot as he went in and stood in the short line. As he glanced around to see who was there, he realized his mistake. Several acquaintances were there including a couple foxes. He gave the customary nod and they nodded back. And then, he saw the nose twitches as they picked it up.

 _Damn..._ he thought.

In general, the smells and scents an animal gave off, especially mating scents, were ignored out of decorum and mutual respect. One day it could be you unable to hide your last twenty-four hours of activities. Give and take.

Still, the fox earned a couple knowing smirks. They knew what happened—at least a version of it—and more importantly, who it had happened with. Word would get around.

Nick sighed as he pulled out his phone. He navigated to the clock app and pulled up the stop watch feature and started it.

 _Three. Four hours tops,_ he thought.

He got to the front of the line, placed his order and surprised himself when he ordered Carrots' favorite smoothie in addition to his coffee. A sub-conscious peace offering perhaps?

He realized as he headed home that he had done nothing to resolve his rabbit-sized conundrum and he needed to have at least one coherent thought about the whole thing when he got home and saw her.

 _Okay,_ he began with a deep breath. _We were fighting. She had pushed you on a date with a fox girl all week. Then admitted to trying to blow it up. Then admitted she might have thought about something more with you. Then you effed up by admitting you thought she wouldn't go interspecies because of her upbringing. Then you both kissed..._

He lingered on the memory. Sure it was mostly in anger if a kiss could be such a thing. But he could feel a deeper pent up urge that she was releasing towards him and he was releasing towards her. He could still feel a small taste of blood just on the inside of his lip where her bucked front teeth had nicked him at least twice.

He realized that they had, at that point, put all their cards on the table. She _was_ okay with the idea of dating outside her species. He was okay with the idea of dating. They both had wanted it but were afraid of what the other would think. The appropriate course of action would have been to apologize to each other, hug, and then start talking about what a tentative relationship between them would involve.

Instead they scent marked each other like pledged life-mates...

 _Hell of an apology,_ his smart-mouthed mind couldn't help but think.

He knew that bunnies operated fast in the relationship department. Carrots had described bits and pieces of rabbit courtship and he got the impression that they made decisions after a couple dates. Her parents had gone on a grand total of three. He didn't think she was like other bunnies. In fact, that was her defining personality trait.

In Zootopia, though, even rabbits took it a little slower—but not too much. Most species that migrated or were born there fell into much longer cycles of dating and courtship. Six months to a few years. His fellow foxes were no exception, and though they had a reputation for playing the field in their youth, they mated for life when they were ready.

He picked apart his thoughts the previous night. He kissed her in response to her kiss. Angry tit-for-tat. But he kept kissing her because he wanted to...

When they managed to get a hold of themselves and almost made it to their respective rooms, he looked back. She looked back. He held the moment in his mind.

 _What was I thinking?_ he asked, not in a accusing way, but in a probing way. The red fox concentrated hard. And when he finally realized it, he stopped.

 _I wanted to mark her because I want to be with her for the rest of my life._

He tried to gulp but he didn't have any saliva. His mouth was dry. His paws were shaking. What few parts of him that could sweat were sweating.

 _But..._

 _But we can't just go from best friends to mates at the drop of a hat... Without even talking about it first... We weren't even in a real relationship._

 _That wasn't entirely true,_ a different part of his brain spoke up.

 _What do you think you've been doing? What's dating? Finding out about the other person, who they are, how they act, what they think, how they feel, enjoying each other's company, supporting each other, making the other feel special and wanted and worthwhile. He and Carrots had everything a relationship would have except the open declaration of love and the phsyi..._

He stopped again. The apartment was around the next corner.

Nick enjoyed Judy's physical qualities. Sure. He stole looks all the time. But never lewd or sexual. He knew he found her physically attractive, but always blocked thoughts of getting physical with her out of deep respect.

This was getting heavier and heavier by the second and he hadn't even thought about reactions at work or with family. He calmed himself with a gulp of coffee and realized he had mostly finished it off. Judy's smoothie would be more like melted juice than icy treat if he didn't get it to her soon.

Maybe he couldn't sort this out without talking to her first. He couldn't be the one to come up with an answer all by himself. He needed her and he figured she probably needed him. They were in this mess because they _hadn't_ talked to each other and when it suddenly got too much to verbalize, their body's did the talking for them.

Still, he felt as though he needed to decide what he really wanted and hoped that's what she wanted too. He had an answer to her ideas on dating another species.

 _So now you can openly think about it, what do you want?_

He was not the impulsive one in the relationship. That was Judy who charged in. He was the one who stood back and calculated the angles. Read the room. He was reserved and patient. Hustling meant that you were an observer first, actor second. He balanced Judy in every way—and the reverse was also true.

He reached the front door.

 _What do you want...?_

His hand hovered on the doorknob. With a deep breath, he marched through the door and made his way to the ladder to the roof hoping she was still in the garden.

 _Screw it. I want my bunny._

With as much determination as he mustered, even he was surprised that it evaporated so quickly when he poked his head through the roof hatch and saw Judy. She was sitting in her typical gardening outfit, eyes closed, on her knees, and holding a garden trowel.

He was even more surprised that she didn't seem to hear him as he approached. A small breeze carried her scent, or more accurately, _his scent on her_ to his nose and his heart tried to jump out of his chest. He held out the smoothie for her and made a little cough. She opened her eyes but wasn't exactly startled. She looked at him and his knees tried to turn to jello.

She took the drink and he thought her heard her say 'thanks'. She stood and squared to him. He realized that he should probably take off his shades—that this situation wasn't fair for him to have his eyes shielded from hers. Her eyes were neutral as she was definitely holding her cards, but he could tell her body was tensed.

 _Say something, Wilde._

 _Say. Something._

It took him an additional couple of seconds to register that she had spoken to him and that she had asked him to help get the soil into the planters.

 _Smooth, Wilde. Real smooth,_ he scolded himself.

He helped as promised and the tension was a little on the thick side when they were nearly finished and working on the last planter box together. Eventually, they came next to each other. Judy was right next to him as they covered the last carrot seeds in dirt. He didn't remember giving his paw any order to reach out and place itself on top of Judy's paw, but there it was. They made eye contact. He should really have taken off his shades by now.

Judy withdrew her paw and took a seat against the planter box next to him. He did the same sprawling his legs out before him. She drew her knees into herself.

They didn't speak. They didn't really look at each other.

 _Okay, maybe we just won't say anything and we'll go back to normal._

 _No, that would be dumb,_ the fox thought to himself. They needed to address this— _now._

He finally took off his shades—an act that at this moment indicated that he was going to go first. The rabbit and fox very delicately made real eye contact for the first time that morning.

Fear was the first thing he saw in Judy's amaranthine—a word he only knew because he had an odd habit of going through word of the day calendars—colored eyes. But also, he saw maybe desire? His mouth went dry again as the words found themselves caught in a traffic jam between his mind and his throat. He needed to be delicate and sensitive with care and love in his tone.

"So, are we mates now or what?" his typical cock-sure mouth blurted out.

 _Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit._ He ran around in the open space of his mind in a full panic. Somehow, he had his cocky game face on the outside, but just barely.

Judy's left ear drooped over the side of her face. Her eyebrows went in opposite directions. Her mouth curled open. This was her 'what did you just say' look of sarcasm and/or indignity—depending on the situation. This situation called for buckets of both. She couldn't believe the fox had just said that in _THIS_ situation. The most important moment of their lives!

"Not until we consummate it first to make it legal," she replied full sarcasm achieved.

Nick knew he botched this, _again_. But sarcasm and verbal sparring were his home turf not actual touchy feely emotional fluff. He could see himself at the bottom of a grave shovel in hand working like a dummy to finish digging it. It was a nice grave. He was doing a good job.

 _In for a penny...,_ he thought. He looked around a bit in fake thought then mimed looking at a watch that wasn't on his wrist.

"I don't have any plans," he smirked looking right down a double barrel shotgun of purple fury.

Any other mammal would have gotten an explosive verbal assault from the rabbit. Still, she was desperately fighting to keep him from pushing every button she had and dialing every knob to eleven. What was he thinking? Was he really making a joke or was he, like he always did, trying to put up a wall around his real feelings?

Through her confused anger, she composed herself enough to look him over. His eyes were half-lidded. His mouth was in its typical 'I'm the awesome Nick Wilde' setting. His shoulders were loose not tight...

Ah, there it was.

His tell. She had picked it off a number of months ago, but she was always cautious in using it. His ears looked like they were in their full standing confident position, but if one looked closely—and knew the fox like she did—they were just slightly curled down It was if they were trying to pull themselves down to pin themselves flat against the back of his head.

Just like they were right now. He was hiding his feelings. She could now play this however she wanted. She was going to crack this fox's mask once and for all.

Her look shifted. She dipped her closer shoulder towards him and rolled her hips that way as well. She closed her eyes and when they reopened, they gazed longingly at the fox. Her paw reached out and grabbed the top of his tie. Slowly, she pulled it away from his body sliding her paw down its length. She pushed in closer bringing her nose in range of his.

He didn't mean to react, but he did, ever so slightly moving back from her. His ears pinned back and his smirk vanished.

 _Gotcha,_ the rabbit celebrated.

"Well then," she rasped huskily. "When do we get started?"

Her nose was almost touching his. He couldn't lean back any more without falling over. His grave digging persona tossed the shovel up to the ground and he climbed out to see what was going on.

Did his teasing work? Was this really happening? Were they ever going to talk about this or were they just going to keep upping the stakes with their bodies?

He allowed himself just a sliver of hope and smiled like it was happening. And then Judy laughed.

 _Oh..._ was all he could think. _Sly bunny._

His lips curled into a more curt, 'yeah, you got me' smile. His pawed reached up and palmed her laughing face. He pushed her back into her seated position. Before he could pull it away though, the rabbit grabbed his paw and brought it down into her lap cradling it with both her paws.

She locked his paw to hers and stroked at the short fur. His heart rate accelerated much faster than it did a moment before.

"Can we talk... for real?" Judy asked before finally bringing her eyes back to his. She was scared again. He was too.

"Uh...," he balked. "Yeah. Look...,"

He was grasping for the right words.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed you wouldn't be okay with dating a fox because you were from Bunny Burrow. I keep forgetting how much I've changed in the time we've known each other and that you've changed a lot too."

He connected with her eyes again. All she read was unbridled sincerity.

"I think I projected some things, right or wrong, and I'm sorry. And if you're okay with being with a handsome fox, I'm okay with being with a dumb bunny..."

He still couldn't help himself though he wanted desperately to take it back and try again. For her part, Judy remembered what she was signing up for. He was a smart-mouthed fox, but he was _her_ smart-mouthed fox. Still, he had to be put in his place...

"I could be okay with a handsome fox... When do I meet him?"

"Ouch, Carrots," Nick said as Judy smirked at him like he had at her so manny many times.

He faked pulling away to turn his back and pout. She pulled him back—and closer. She moved one paw up to the side of his face. It was immediately trapped by his free paw. Their looks deepened.

"I'm sorry too. I turned this into a high school drama. I was immature and acted like a brat because I didn't know how to just... just talk to you."

Her paw moved from his face to his heart with his paw still on top of hers.

"I know I made a mess..."

" _We,"_ Nick interrupted. "We made a mess."

"Okay, I know _we_ made a mess, but I know that I... I love you. And I think we can be even more to each other than just friends. If.. If you want..."

"I do," the fox interjected again. Smiles were spreading. Fear was lifting from both pairs of eyes.

They stared at each other almost drunkenly for another moment. Nick finally got a small grip on himself.

"Oh, I should probably tell you that I love you too," he said bringing their noses together.

Judy closed her eyes, her breathing going rapid minutes ago.

"What now?" she asked almost in a whisper.

Nick pulled back slightly breaking their nose-to-nose contact. She opened her eyes to see him in some form of thought.

"I'm just gonna make it awkward," the fox said.

With that, he dove in, not too hard, but with urgency. Paws unhooked on both the rabbit and the fox and repositioned—Judy's around the the back of Nick's head and Nick's half-way up her body pulling her in deeper to the kiss. This would be the kiss that qualified as their 'first'. There was no way it was going to be their last.

* * *

An hour and half later, they were embraced and resting in Judy's bed. They took their time with the whole affair. Nick realizing he was out of practice. Judy admitting that she had very limited practice—even if she had not been a bunny.

There was awkwardness by the truck load. There were at least a half dozen 'if you're not ready's' paired with an equal number of 'no, I want to's'. There was a lot of gawking. A lot of new sounds and new sensations. Ultimately, they got through it unscathed. Sitting up with Nick draped over her back, Judy oddly thought about her romantic history and felt a sense of victory in this moment.

Judy hated the nickname 'Jude the Dude' because it bore a striking similarity to one of her high school nicknames, 'Jude the Prude'. During her senior year, she was extremely stingy with granting date requests. She wanted love and affection just like every other mammal, but she also had aspirations beyond the expectations of Bunny Burrow.

Friend after friend after friend had paired up and marked. Despite the strong caution given to them in middle school, rabbits in Bunny Burrow typically found their mate during their senior year in high school. This always confused the grey rabbit. What special knowledge and experience had they gained in those four short years that made them suddenly ready to make such a call? Most dating pairs were encouraged by parents in a not quite 'arranged' fashion. There was no shame or stigma in turning such an offer down, but the prevailing attitude was that your own parents and your potential match's parents had things figured out.

Typically, after three or four dates, each rabbit 'knew' the other was the 'one'. Judy would always roll her eyes when another pair of classmates took the plunge. They were convinced it was love. She was convinced it was hormones and social pressure. She wanted to scream to them all to wake up and see the world outside their little snuggle bubbles, but she knew she couldn't. She was already a borderline pariah as it was.

The few dates she did go on were exactly the same:

 _Wow, Judy you sure are pretty. My folks are gonna stake me a plot of land. We can start our own burrow and have lots of kits. Wouldn't that be great? What do you mean you want to be a cop? Still? I thought that was just part of that play you did in grade school? Your dream? But what about your kits? You're going to wait to have kits?! In Zootopia?!_

All of the Ugh! All of it.

Her parents were much more wound up back then and were nearly beside themselves when prom arrived and Judy was unspoken for. The 'pickings' were getting slim. They put a tremendous amount of effort into finding a young buck with decent prospects who hadn't been taken yet.

She acquiesced. Even she didn't want to be dateless for senior prom. She was also curious—on an experimental level—of typical post-prom activities. He was actually quiet and shy. She had to do most of the coaxing. _Jude the Prude my fluffy tail_ , she thought at one point.

Unfortunately, it was a lackluster and awkward thirty-seven seconds punctuated by his attempt to mark her afterward. She didn't give a damn that he told everyone after and that she earned a new nickname, 'Snooty Judy'.

She had a couple more goes in college with two different somewhat aspirational rabbits. One was an actual relationship—under non-Bunny Burrow rules—but still had the same 'start a large family soon' expectation by the end.

Her parents still worked tirelessly on her behalf, but eventually she wore them down to posing a potential 'match' only once every few months—which she never actually went on a date with. She hadn't initially noticed, though, that they stopped all together after Nick's first visit to the farm.

Several trips home later, the teasing questions began. She didn't understand what on earth they were talking about. But when she brought home Nick a second time, it became obvious. The winks, the nods, the showing them to the same room to stay for the extended weekend.

Her refutations were always met with her mother's entirely frustratingly sassy, 'mmm-hmmm'. Her father played the, 'I understand if you two are trying to keep it a secret' game. Judy couldn't decide if they genuinely liked Nick or viewed him as one last desperate shot to see her married. Either way, she blamed his stupid foxy charm.

It was close, but she realized her parents ridiculous assumptions were better than than having them throw young bunny males at her in desperation. She also couldn't help but feel warm that her parents—her fox fearing parents—had come as far as she had in leaving old prejudices aside. Again, she blamed Nick's stupid foxy charm more than Gideon Gray's pie making skills.

So, it was with great relief that Judy found herself sitting up, pressing her bare back into Nick's bare front as he sat up in her bed—her patience in regards to picking a mate paying off handsomely. Their first experience together had been pleasant enough—a second relief actually that all went well for a first time together. He was now massaging the base of her ears. She had just reached for and opened her laptop.

"1,359 new emails," she said with a growl. She moved her head to the side so her partner could see and be ashamed of his handy work. He smiled instead.

"Honestly disappointed it wasn't more. You're a catch."

"I deleted the first 4,000 without reading them..."

He let out a quick laugh and was rewarded with a quick elbow.

"Here are some of the highlight," Judy said pawing to a folder labeled 'I Hate Nick'.

The young rabbit bucks of Mate dot com—Nick mercifully activated the filter that only allowed rabbits to see 'her' profile—took three approaches:

 _I can't believe it's really you! I've dreamed about marrying you since you solved the savage case!_

Or...

 _I am _. I live in _. I work at _. I want _ kits._

Or...

 _Hip pic plz._

"Hip pic...?" Nick asked confused. The bunny sighed and rolled her hips into him a couple times in an awkwardly pleasurably fashion. "Ohhh... Geez."

"Yeah, so, would you mind...?" she said navigating to the Mate dot com login page.

Nick apologized with a heavy sigh.

"Username: CarrotCop," he said trying to suppress a smirk. She typed it in with another growl.

"And. The. Password?"

"ilovemyfox123."

He earned his second elbow of the day.

"I know you know you could have had that account deleted any time," the fox said adding little kisses to the back of her neck.

"Maybe I was genuinely curious," she replied as she inspected the profile he put up for her.

Nick stopped kissing and rested his snout on her shoulder. She could feel his smirk.

"You weren't curious."

She looked at him through the corners of her eyes. No, she hadn't been. She was annoyed—but too tired to do anything—when the first emails came in. No, she knew almost immediately that she was going to find a way to turn it around on him and make him regret setting that account up. She knew he knew so it was pointless to fight on.

His chosen profile picture for her was a selfie she took with a brother and sister at the previous year's Carrot Days Festival. He included her standard issue public relations dress blue ZPD photo as a secondary shot. No other pics. The profile was even more abbreviated.

 _Career bunny looking for new connections that could lead to something on down the road._

"That's it?" Judy asked perplexed. _This profile got thousands of requests in under a week?_

"Less is more," Nick nearly whispered. Judy smiled softly.

Nick nuzzled the back of her neck and she went through the account termination process. She got the cancelation email, selected delete all, and tossed the laptop aside.

She replaced it in her paws with his tail as he continued to play around her neck and back. They remained locked in a haze of oneness for what seemed like the rest of the morning. Finally...

"Judy," Nick began with a tenderness that made her want to spin around and have her way with him. "This is moving pretty fast. And I'm not saying we should slow it down, but we've got a lot to work on."

The rabbit twisted to face him. She knew he was right. He waited for her response.

"You're right. And we'll do it... Where do you want to start?"

Nick cleared his throat.

"I thought about one of the things you said last night. About me never opening up to you. That's as good of a place as any."

Judy shivered. _No, it's a great place to start._

"So, you may ask me one question a day, about anything, and I have to answer it."

The rabbit's look shifted from love to confusion muddled with concern.

"Are you sure about that? I mean..."

"Anything," he said bringing one of her paws up for a small kiss.

Judy drew into herself a little.

 _Anything, huh Wilde?_ she thought deeply. She knew she'd need to work to the heavier family stuff later. She still wasn't sure she ever wanted to know everything about his hustling. Besides, she didn't want to take anything away from this moment with anything serious. She went through a quick list of things that she'd always wondered about before settling on one.

"How did you get this place?"

Nick shot her a look.

"That's your question?" he asked skeptically.

"They'll be lots of days. So, spill. Why are we living in a warehouse?"

Nick looked at her for a moment then shrugged.

"Squatter's rights."

Judy's look very slowly went from playful banter to terrified shame. She drew the covers up to her neck.

"Nick... are we squatters?!"

She did not appreciate his laugh.

"No, this place is mine. Fair and more or less square."

Judy went from embarrassment to 'make sense now, buster' in record time.

With a deep breath, Nick began a nimble explanation of Zootopia's laws on squatter's rights and how he may have bent them to his will over the decade long required occupancy time that ended just before he met Judy. He told of how Vixburg never saw anything in the way of investment and that this warehouse had been an 'inner city tax credit development' write-off for some large corporation that gave no care to actually doing something with the place. They were hustling the good citizens of Zootopia to save a few dollars; he hustled them right back. He eventually was able to get the title transferred after a very quick and decisive PR stunt that may have involved 'borrowing' the Channel Six news van and posing for an interview holding Finnick in his elephant costume when the corporate lawyers arrived to assess the situation.

She took it all in and slowly began coming to terms with the idea. This wasn't the first time Nick showed a Robin Hood-esque side to himself even if this particular time it benefitted only him.

"How do you know so much about real estate laws?" she finally asked.

"Is that your question for tomorrow?" Nick replied.

"I have to be able to ask follow up questions!"

"I'll allow one follow up question per day, but you can't save them up. They are use-or-lose"

"Are we negotiating now?"

"Always."

Judy weighed the situation over.

"Fine. Now spill."

"I have a law degree," he said as non-nonchalantly as a weather forecast.

Her jaw dropped.

"Where did you study? Did you take the bar?!"

"You don't seem to realize how this question thing is suppose to work, do you?"

Judy just stared at him expectantly. Maybe it was he who didn't understand how this question thing was going to work. He sighed.

"Let's just say that night classes at Meadowlands Community College will not prepare you for the bar exam but you can build some intricate hustles with a little knowledge of municipal code and legal loopholes."

Judy's mouth stood agape. She was somewhat horrified but a little pride was peaking through her expression.

"I want to see your degree," she stated.

"It's at my mom's house. She got it framed. Proud day for her even if the ceremony was in the cafeteria and they were still serving food."

Was this truly world-changing information about Nick? No, no it was not. But the fact that she had gone so long knowing him without having had this conversation blew her mind at least a little bit.

"Oh my god, I just slept with a stranger," she sassed.

Nick raised a devious eyebrow and drew her in tight.

"Actually, you're now _mates_ with a stranger."

There was a brief moment when she didn't accept that word had just been used. In a flash, she shoved the fox so hard he landed on his back. The rabbit rolled on top of him and pinned his arms down. She was lording over him with an almost impish glare.

"What was that you called us?" she cooed. His grin spread matching hers.

"Mates," he said with a pleased growl in his voice.

Judy took it as a chance to bury her lips into his, but before it got too much farther, the rabbit decided on a different plan as she took back to marking him.

In fact, maybe this afternoon's project would be to mark every inch of each other's bodies—all the parts they had missed the previous night.

Tomorrow's project would be to figure out how to tell everyone that they were officially together.

Monday would be actually having the gall to do it.

But right then, Judy was busy leaving her scent on his torso slowly working down to his waist line. He sat her back up so he could mark deeper down her chest and stomach than he could the night before.

Thoughts were quickly turning to abandoning further marking for the other intimate option now available to them when they were jolted by the sound of the front door being flung open.

"Nicholas Piberius Wilde!" called a sharp older female voice.

Judy gasped as she turned towards her open bedroom door in time to see an older female fox with matching green eyes to Nick's stop at the door frame. The rabbit spun into his chest pulling the covers high to her chin.

Nick stared down the vixen and yawned.

"Hi, Mom," he said as cooly as if he was just coming home from school.

"Don't you 'Hi, Mom' me, Nicholas," she seethed.

Nick looked away from his mom and down Judy who was hiding in embarrassment rather than fear. He smirked at her. She glared back at him. He reached over and found his phone on the night stand. He opened the clock app and halted the stop watch timer that had been running.

 _3 hours; 22 minutes._

 _She's right on time,_ he thought. He gave a kiss to the top of Carrots' head and melted a little at how cute her twitching nose was. Finally...

"Let us get dressed and we'll treat you to lunch."


	7. Judy's Secret

A/N: Thanks to Matri, Chaos-Wolfy, zenith88, Sappopo, crescent the eclipse, Lola, A big time fan, ChaoticImp, , DdraigDan, Tron1997, Cimar of Turalis WildeHoppes, Danny-171984, Wolf Guard Miestwin, ShamefulMan, ImNotLost18, Galako, Baneblade, 1n Rainb0ws, Shad0wFr34K-HD, Pyrophoricity, Max99, Zeeeemark, Flaredra, and Irual for reading and reviewing! I respond to all reviews and PM's (eventually :D).

In the middle of a couple busy weeks, but I didn't want to leave this story hanging that long. So, here is a chapter from the original story back when this was going to be more slice-of-life style. I've adapted a lot of those little stories into this story, but thought this little tale could be a nice little background chapter for a change of pace. Next chapter will have Mama Wilde and a whole lot more. Until then, enjoy!

* * *

Rules Were Meant to Be Broken

by Ultimate Naco Topping

Chapter 6 - Judy's Secret

* * *

 **And Now a Brief Story from Before Judy and Nick Moved in Together**

Judy was a hypocrite.

No, she was much much worse than that.

She was a traitor to both her rabbit brethren and all prey-kind.

She was flaunting the natural order.

She was disgusting.

If she were ever discovered, she'd be a pariah, an outcast. She doubted that even predators would accept her.

And it was all _his_ fault. His sly, smooth, foxy fault.

Of course, it was an accident. He didn't mean to turn her into the monster she had become, but his recklessness and devil-may-care attitude had led directly to her looming demise.

But she needed him.

And only he could give her what could fill that void.

And some days, she needed it _bad._

He was more than to happy to supply it; even if he was completely oblivious that he was doing so.

Sighing, she looked across her table at him as he gulped down his order of kung pao crickets blissfully unaware of what he had done to her.

 _What have I become?_ she silently pondered.

 _Weeks earlier, it had been a very long day at work and the bunny hadn't the energy to go grab something to eat on the way home. She found herself rummaging in her fridge hoping for anything that wasn't carrot-based. Thankfully, there were leftovers from the Chinese place around the corner were still there._

 _A couple nights before, she and Nick had been working a case after-hours at her place and had to eat something. Now, she tossed the last of the lo mein and Buddha delight on a plate and zapped it in the microwave._

 _She was on auto-pilot as she ate and thumbed through her Furbook feed on her phone. Life was actually okay; great even! Nick had settled in to his role on the ZPD. Her parents weren't calling every seventeen minutes to make sure she was alive. And there was a rumor that Bogo was going to create positions for dedicated detectives in each precinct and she might be up to be one of the first._

 _For all intents and purposes, she had found a wonderful balance to her life. She couldn't imagine what it would take to throw it back into the chaos it had been when she first arrived in the city._

 _As she looked at the eighth picture of a donut Clawhauser had posted that week, she took another bite of lo mein._

 _Mushy two-days-in-the-fridge noodles were offset by a generous mix of carrot, celery, cabbage, snow peas, and something... different._

 _It was oddly savory. A firm texture to start but as she bit through it, it softened into an odd almost watery texture. She liked it, whatever it was, but as she swallowed, she couldn't recall tasting anything like it before._

What else would they have put in the lo mein...?

 _Her thought trailed off as she suddenly remembered:_ shrimp.

 _Their traditional order always consisted of tofu spring rolls, fried rice, a small vegetarian Buddha delight for her, kung pao crickets for him, and they split shrimp lo mein—_ shrimp on the side _—so they could both enjoy the dish according to their dietary preferences. Nick simply added the shrimp back into his serving._

 _But that night, Nick had forgotten to ask for the shrimp on the side. The fox was more than willing to take the dish back and get it corrected, but Judy insisted that she could pick the shrimp out, no problem._

 _Two days later, Judy was haunted... by curiosity. It was the first time she could ever recall eating meat in any form and it was not what she expected. Slowly, she looked down at her plate._

 _Staring, for lack of a better word since it didn't have a face, up at her was another tiny shrimp._

 _Her nose twitched uncontrollably._

 _The whole evening had suddenly become surreal. She felt like she was watching herself from the outside as she went to pick the little guy off her plate; slow and tense, like one of those horror movies were Victim Number Two reaches for the door nob to investigate the sound that should have sent them running the other way._

 _The rabbit held up the little shrimp in front of her face. It wasn't one of the big ones she'd occasionally see Nick order grilled from the food carts outside headquarters. This one was tiny. Almost an after-thought of flavor and clearly used by the restaurant to keep costs down._

 _She sniffed at it._

 _A wave of unfamiliar yet intriguing odors filled her nostrils. It certainly smelled like what she had just eaten, but there was only one way to find out._

 _She popped it in her mouth and let it sit on her tongue analyzing it for just an extra second before chewing. As she bit through the poor little shrimp, the same wonderful flavor she tasted just a moment before returned. This was definitely the same thing._

 _She let it linger in her mouth a bit longer as her brain cataloged all the new and invigorating details._

So, this is meat, _Judy thought as she finally allowed herself to swallow._

Meat.

One day happily swimming in the ocean living its little shrimp life, the next...

Living...

 _A wave of guilt and panic suddenly shuddered through her fur._

I just ate... a living...

 _Judy almost fainted. Then, she almost threw up. Then, she started hyper-ventilating._

Oh, god! What was I thinking? I'm a bunny. We don't eat meat. Predators eat meat!

 _Her thoughts swirled like a small boat caught in a typhoon._

But.

I.

Liked.

It.

 _The rabbit gripped the sides of her small table as her breathing shallowed at the realization._

A meat-eating bunny?

 _Surely not her. Her parents raised her better than that, not that it was a purely moral issue. However, the fact that predators still ate meat, albeit just seafood and bugs rather than sentient mammals, was still a back-burner sticking point in predator/prey relations. It was those lingering possibilities that Bellweather and her cohorts had exploited and helped the fear spread so explosively._

 _Now she had eaten meat. On purpose._

 _Worse, she realized she wanted more._

 _Forty-nine point nine percent of her yelled for her to stop this madness, throw the last of the lo mein in the trash, and find the nearest carrot smoothie shop. But fifty point one percent of her urged her to pick up the fork..._

"Ooops!" Nick said as he picked up a sauce-covered cricket that spilled onto the case file next to him.

Over time, working cases off the clock had become a common pretense for the rabbit and fox to hang out at dinner time, but they almost never got to the working the case part. In fact, he had no clue what was in this particular case file. He had grabbed it off the top of the pile merely to keep up the charade. Still, he carefully wiped the folder to remove any grease stains.

"Little quiet tonight, Carrots," the fox said noticing Judy's drawn in reflection.

"Wha..?" she replied snapping back to the moment. "Nothing much going on, honestly."

"Excitement is overrated," he replied with a shrug.

Judy took a twirl of lo mein from her plate with her fork.

"Uh-oh, looks like we have a stray," said Nick. He swung his chopsticks to pluck a little shrimp that had found itself all-by-its lonesome on the side of her plate, but he never got to it.

"I was saving that," Judy said without even thinking. When her brain did engage and think about what she was doing, it was too late. She had also moved her fork to block Nick for stealing the little shrimp. "I mean...,"

Nick pulled back and eyed her suspiciously.

"Judy!" Nick exclaimed haughtily with a side of mockery. "Have you gone predator on us?"

Judy pulled herself in tight. If she didn't have fur, she'd be blushing fifteen shades of red. She had, in one moment, blown it.

For weeks, she had schemed and plotted, always using Nick as a cover, to get a few morsels of shrimp whenever she could. She took control of placing the order at the take-out spot under the guise that she could order it before he got to her place and he could pick it up on the way.

It was really just so she could order the shrimp lo mein— _extra shrimp on the side._ She relied entirely on Nick not noticing any bump in price, which he didn't, and him not noticing the shrimp still in the lo mein, which he also didn't—not with his own side of shrimp all to himself.

She had only dared a couple non-Nick attempts at shrimp. She ordered grilled shrimp from Nick's favorite food cart under the pretense that it was for him, then had to place her normal order of salad at the adjacent cart. She snuck the tasty morsels into her salad to conceal each bite in lettuce. While she found them even more delightful jumbo sized and grilled, she wished she could eat them without a simultaneous bite of lettuce.

The other instance had been while shopping at the nearby Whole Hooves. She hadn't intended it, but when she passed the meat counter, there they were. A giant pile of shrimp... on sale.

She contrived a story about her ocelot friend visiting from out of town that she was going to cook for that the elderly wolf behind the counter didn't appear to buy for a minute. When she got home, she found that a microwave was a horrible device to cook shrimp with and vowed to stick to her Chinese take-out cover.

"And here I thought they were being generous on our last few orders..." the fox said relishing his rabbit friend's seemingly massive leap into the unknowns of predatory cuisine. "How long have you been keeping this a secret?"

"A few weeks," the rabbit said as the shame built in her voice.

"No wonder you've been on a Chinese kick recently...," he trailed before gasping with realization. "So wait, does that make me your... _supplier_?"

He beamed his best smug at her. However, his smug look vanished in an instant.

"Oh, god!" Judy cried dropping her fork and covering her face. "What is wrong with me?"

"What? Nothing's wrong with you." Nick replied wondering how in the world the evening had suddenly filled with drama.

"I'm a monster! What kind of rabbit eats meat? _And likes it? I'll be kicked off the force. My parents will disown me. I'll have to find a colony for outcast meat eating prey and... and... My life is over!_ "

She was on the verge of sobbing. Nick realized she was having a bit of a crisis. The fox shifted his chair to get within reach of her.

"Who says there's anything wrong with a rabbit eating meat? Fish and shrimp and bugs don't have feelings. They're all too busy swimming and flying and eating other."

"But I'm not a predator. It's not natural. There's certain things preds and prey can each do but that the other shouldn't. Predators eat meat and prey don't!"

Nick sighed. The bunny was entirely overreacting as she sobbed into her paws. He shook of the thought that even in her weeping emotional state she was indefensibly cute.

"Carrots, look at me," he pleaded. He had to pry her paws apart to get eye contact.

He looked down at the table and picked off a piece of broccoli from her plate.

"What would happen if this meat-eating predator ate this piece of broccoli?"

She looked at him with the slightest bit of confusion. He popped the green bastard—he hated broccoli like it had stole his prom date from him—in his mouth, chewed twice, and gulped. He added a dramatic gasp.

"Do you hear that?!" he mocked looking around in pretend fright. "Society is crumbling!"

"It's not the same...," Judy huffed.

"Really? How? If you ask me, it's worse morally to eat the broccoli. It can't run away when those malicious bunnies come harvest it's friends and family. At least the shrimp has a sporting chance to swim away. Either way, we gotta eat."

The rabbit opened her mouth but there were no words for her to say. She let a smirk overtake her sniffle.

"And a rabbit can eat a piece of shrimp and everything will be fine," Nick said reassuringly. He picked up the chunk of oceany goodness and held it in front of her mouth. He gestured her to open up.

Meekly, Judy complied and let him feed her the piece of shrimp. She tried to suppress a full smile.

"Welcome to the club. You're one of us now," Nick shifted his chair back to his side to resume his meal. "Cricket?"

Nick hoisted a cricket up for her. Judy's weak smile turned to instant revulsion as she came eye to eye with a poor little bugger.

"Spluck!" she coughed almost gagging. "I think I'm going to stick to things that don't have faces..."

"You're loss," Nick said tossing it into his mouth.

They continued eating quietly. Nick watched his bunny best friend as she ate a little more self-consciously. He realized that she was just one surprise after another and that had maybe become his favorite thing about her.

"Nick," she said breaking the silence. "If you could keep this between...,"

"You're secret is safe with me, Jude," Nick cut her off.

The rabbit and the fox looked eye to eye. Warming smiles widened ever so softly. It was darn near the perfect way to end to the...

"We'll keep your secret too, bunny!" Bucky or Pronk shouted through the wall.

Judy drained white under her fur. Nick could do nothing but chuckle.

"I've got a great recipe for scallops I can give you!" the other shouted.

"Your recipe? That's my recipe!"

"No it's not, it's mine! You got it from me!"

"My mom made it for me when I was a kid! Are you saying she got it from you!"

"Maybe she did!"

The rabbit growled as her neighbor's shouting match became unintelligible curses.

"So, it's common for prey to eat meat in Zootopia?" Judy asked narrowing her eyes at a grinning Nick.

"Totally," he said rolling his eyes in playful lament. "I was going to have so much fun with you over that..."

Judy growled and began snatching the now finished dinner off the table as Nick decided between helping her and opening his fortune cookie. He decided not to press his luck and help her first.

The argument next door raged on as they finished cleaning. They looked towards the wall of noise wondering how the evening could proceed. Nick turned to Judy and silently signaled, pointing at her, then himself, then the front door. The bunny nodded and the pair slipped out the door on an otherwise perfect evening to take a walk.


	8. All Bets Are Off

A/N: Thanks to Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, DdraigDan, Matri, Comet Moon, Danny-171984, zenith88, Pyrophoricity, ShmokeyDaBear, Worf Guard Miestwin, Friendly Anon reviews, Niori, 1n Rainb0ws, Lola, njlopez, , and forcedInduction for reading and reviewing.

While, I'm sure a lot of you wouldn't mind the fluff train to keep on rolling, I swear we'll be getting to actual plot development again soon. But for now, let's find out what Nick's mom has to say about the whole thing, shall we?

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 7 – All Bets Are Off**

* * *

Judy had every right to be nervous and apprehensive. That's what she told herself, anyway. She had no reason to suspect that Ellen Wilde was a traditionalist or that she would reject the rabbit as a suitable mate for her son. Nick's mother had done nothing but espouse affection and admiration for the bunny who single-pawedly brought her son back to respectability.

But there was a difference between being accepted as the friend and partner of a mother's son and being accepted as that son's mate—especially as suddenly as that development had occurred.

Unlike her parents, Ellen Wilde had placed no pressure or made any allusions about the two of them being a couple. At least, she'd never done so in Judy's presence or if she did so with Nick, he wasn't talking. So, the rabbit could completely understand the vixen's decision to burst through the door barking her son's name like he had broken her favorite vase. She could completely understand the shock of hearing third hand that her son had made a major life decision without her being in the loop.

Judy wondered _how_ she seemed to know this information in the short span that had transpired since it happened but it was more important to navigate whatever land mines laid on the other side of her door first.

She and Nick had finished putting their clothes back on and Nick was heading to the door. Judy desperately wanted a shower and fresh garments. This was no way to face Nick's mom as her— _holy crap—_ daughter-in-law for the first time. Nick glanced over his shoulder and gave her a reassuring smirk. If only Nick knew how to give a reassuring smile but she knew what he meant.

"Okay," Nick charged verbally into the fray after opening the door. "How about that little Italian place a couple blocks over? I think they serve brunch till three."

"No food until I get answers!" Nick's mom growled.

Judy didn't want to emerge from behind Nick, but she did. Ellen's face was firing 'angry mom' mode directly at her son, but as soon as she noticed the rabbit her look changed—'concerned comforting mother' mode activated as she locked on to Judy. The rabbit didn't have time to process what was happening as Nick's mom got down on her knees and grabbed her shoulders.

"What did he do to you?" she asked inspecting the rabbit for injuries. "Did he trick you? Get you drunk?"

"Mom..."

"Hush!" she snapped before turning back to Judy, her look of concern rebounding stronger than before. "Did he get you preg...?"

"Mom!" Nick exclaimed sharper than he had ever done to his mother in his life. The rabbit and elder fox were both taken aback.

Ellen stood up and took a step back this time 'integrator mom' mode activated.

"Then explain to me why I heard from a friend of a friend that my dearest son was waltzing around the streets this morning with the unmistakable scent of having picked a mate? Have you two been secretly dating?"

Nick could see the quiver in the corner of his mom's mouth, her balled up paws, and just that hint of disappointment in her eyes that he'd inflicted so many times before. She didn't say it, but she was implying heavily that she was hurt by the idea of them dating without telling her.

"No, Ma," he choked out. "It's a lot more..."

He didn't even know how to describe it to her. The elder fox was teetering between confusion and anger.

"It just happened," Judy blurted out. She also grabbed Nick's paw as if that would somehow protect her—from what she did not know. "We were having an argument and then we kissed... and then we were about to go to bed separately when..."

Up until that point, everything that had happened between the fox and the rabbit made sense to them. They didn't really need to put it into words; they just felt their actions and behaviors and feelings were perfectly in tune with each other. However, having to explain it to another adult mammal suddenly made it sound bonkers. In both their minds, the doubt was creeping—no, galloping—in that they may have made a huge mistake.

Mama Wilde had drawn in her breath waiting for more words from the two, but realized it was just dawning on the young lovers themselves what had really happened.

"I think we all need to sit down and start from the beginning," the vixen said with her 'I'm your mother; do as I say' voice. She motioned them to the couch.

Judy and Nick shuffled their feet like they had been sent home with a note from the principal's office. In this moment, they weren't 25 and 33 year old adults capable of making adult decisions on their own. They reverted back to kits about to get a tongue lashing and be sent to bed without dinner.

Judy sat sandwiched between two foxes—something her ancestors would have messed themselves in fear in times past. She and Nick weren't sure if they should touch each other or not or even whether to hold paws in solidarity. Nick started to shift to better angle himself for the conversation but stopped when he leaned up against Judy and she immediately leaned back into him. He decided to stay awkwardly twisted if it gave her some comfort.

Judy went first because that's what Judy did. Ellen kept her facial expressions neutral as the rabbit detailed how the week began: the cute vixen, the goading Nick into a date, the carrot pen. She tried to skip the Nick's Mate dot com profile retaliation but he interjected. She had been brave enough to go first so he felt he shouldn't be spared his role. Nick's mom grimaced at him for being so... Nick.

After that, though, the couple was almost back to normal. They were telling the story together and finishing each other's sentences—the whole nauseating perfect couple routine. By the time they were finished, Nick had a paw on Judy's shoulder and she had collected his other paw in her lap. Their eyes and smiles had a certain air of 'please buy what we're selling' to them.

Ellen Wilde did not.

She had narrowed her eyes at them long ago—her body language rigid. She let them squirm a bit. Finally...

"And what about your dates from last night?"

The couple's ears pinned back and shoulders slumped at the mention of the previous night's collateral damage. They both felt like jerks.

"Nick, sweetheart, I have tried my best to let you make your own decisions," Ellen began lowering her tone from agitation to something more bittersweet. "I jumped in once before and it was admittedly a disaster for all involved. But it is abundantly clear that you two haven't thought this out."

Nick parted his mouth to speak but he didn't know what to say. Judy tried to distract herself by stroking his paw with her thumb.

"How is the ZPD going to take this? Are they going to let you remain partners? Are you ready to merge your finances together? Do you know if you want kits or not? Where are you going to be in five years? Ten years? Do you even know when you two fell in love?"

Each question was a like she was swinging a wrecking ball through their little hormone induced edifice they had constructed in the past 24 hours that they were claiming was a relationship. The elder fox would have continued but Nick finally found his voice.

"Okay, enough," he said frustrated. "If you don't approve of us being together, then just say it."

Judy snapped her eyes up to Nick. He wasn't masking a thing. He was hurt with a touch of anger. Slowly, she looked back to Nick's mom and was surprised to see her soften her glare. The vixen reached out and placed her paw on top of theirs.

"No, you have my blessing."

The tension, at least some of it, left the room. There was still plenty to go around.

"But...?" Nick asked.

"But, you two have a communication problem," Ellen said sharpening her gaze again.

It was Judy who opened her mouth to speak, or object rather, but again the words weren't there.

"I know you have that whole 'silent communication' partner thing going, but you're playing with fire. You two were carrying torches for each other for months but missed all the signals. And when your stubborn brains wouldn't open your mouths talk to each other, your bodies did the talking for you."

The younger fox and rabbit were both blushing under their coats. Both because they had lacked the ability talk to each and sort their out their feelings like adults and because they had been overcome with hormones and emotions like primitive teenagers when they hadn't.

"I want you two together. Really, I do," Nick's mom began before turning to the rabbit. "The first time I saw you look at Nick and he looked back at you, I knew. And while I wasn't keen on interfering or giving you both a nudge in the right direction, I was praying to Saint Marian that you'd be the one. However, you can't wholesale change the nature of your relationship on a couple glances and a wave of hormones."

Nick and Judy managed to look at each other with a sideways glance. Ellen spoke the truth.

"I'm assuming I walked in after..."

"Yes," Judy admitted without eye contact to either fox.

"Then what's done is done," Ellen said with a sigh that turned into a soft smile. "You two love each other in the right way and for the right reasons. But I would hate to see you two part ways because you kept trying to guess each other's feelings instead of talking about them. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but if I were you, I'd sit on this couch and I wouldn't leave until I'd talked everything out. Both ways."

With that, Ellen stood up. Nick and Judy followed suit. The elder vixen grabbed them both up in a hug and didn't let go.

"I know I'm sounding harsh and overbearing, but know that I love you very much."

She rolled her cheek under her son's neck and gave him a mother's mark before he could react.

"Mom," he complained trying to move away.

"Quiet! You're never too old for me to mother you."

The vixen then shifted and swiped a mark over the top of Judy's head, who despite having just seen her do the same with Nick, was totally surprised by the move. Ellen leaned down to her eye level.

"I guess you get to call me Mom now," she smiled to blushing rabbit.

She straightened herself up and stepped back from her what were now her _children_ —rather than her child and his friend—hoping she'd applied the proper amount of motherly wisdom to the situation.

"If you finish talking in time, I'll have supper ready at 6 tonight."

The pair smiled at her as if to say they understood fully what she had been saying to them. Nick squeezed Judy's paw for added comfort. Judy was somewhat in shock. It was an up and down rollercoaster of a conversation, but in the end, she knew that she had Nick's mother's full acceptance. But she also knew she had told them exactly what they needed to hear.

As his mom made her way to the still open front door, a small yet muscular figure waltzed through the opening. He was wearing a grin the size of an elephant's waistline but as soon as the small fox made eye contact with Ellen Wilde, his snout snapped shut and his ears dropped.

"Mrs. Wilde," Finnick said taking a wide, almost cautious berth around the oncoming fox.

"Finnick," Ellen said coldly barely looking down at him.

The exchange was enough to snap Judy out of the haze she was in. She was pretty sure she had just seen the other smart-mouthed fox in her life actually show respect to another mammal. Although, respect might be mistaken for fear in this instance. Someone in her brain scribbled down a note that Nick's mom had somehow put the fear of god into Finnick Fox.

Ellen turned at the door stop.

"Remember, 6 o'clock sharp."

With that she disappeared into the bright day outside the apartment. Finnick kept wandering forward but only spoke once he was sure Nick's mom was gone.

"What the eff, Nicky-boy!" he exclaimed rather than asking. "You finally let Officer Toot-Toot finish you off!"

Nick growled but not seriously.

"Oh, look, sweety! They're making foxes in fun sizes now!" Judy sassed. "Can we get one? Please?"

"I don't know," Nick began. "You'll have to promise to feed 'em and clean up after 'em."

"Oh, you guys are a riot!" Finnick growled throwing his head back as far as he could without falling over. "You should take that act on the road or package that shit as an effective means to induce vomiting."

"So, you come to offer your congratulations?" Nick asked.

The smaller fox gave him a sheepish grin and then pulled out a wad of cash. Nick gulped audibly. Judy read the room and became suspicious.

"As a matter of fact, I did. I'm certainly not here to pay you your winnings off the game the other night."

Nick had scrunched his snout in a 'please shut up' kind of way towards his friend. Judy let go of his paw to cross her arms and glare up at him. She added a small foot tap for effect. Finnick, now trying not to laugh himself silly, extended the wad of cash to the rabbit.

"Nah, this as a wedding gift—just without the wedding. Congratulations," he said as Judy suddenly smirked when she realized what the diminutive fox was doing.

She took the cash with a glance at Nick who was burning his stare at his former partner in hustling.

"Why, thank you, Finnick," the rabbit declared before adding a hug to really twist the proverbial knife in her partner's stomach.

Nick growled again. The fact that Judy and Finnick were, in fact, on rather friendly terms, was Nick's second least favorite thing about life right then. The first was Chief Bogo's unbreakable sense of humor (or lack thereof) and the third was the occasional crime scene where he heard 'wait, they let a fox become a cop?' He doubted very much that if he wasn't the subject of their conversations when they spent time together, Judy and Finnick would even remotely get along. However, they almost couldn't wait to tell of all their 'guess what Nick did' stories every time they got near each other.

Finnick winked at Nick with perhaps his most accomplished smirk ever. Still, he pushed Judy back before the hug went too long.

"Okay, off," he said sniffing the air. "You really laid it on her, big guy. I stay too close everyone'll think I'm part of this whole sordid affair."

Judy rolled her eyes and began thumbing through the wad of cash. She and Nick would have a conversation about it soon... among other things...

"So, what's the word on the street?" Nick asked implying heavily that he wanted to know what everyone was saying about the sudden change of events.

"Relax, you're all good. Except with those who may have lost a bet over you two. Otherwise, most mammals 'round here thought you two had already lost your senses or were about too soon."

It was a relief— _sort of..._

"Welp," the soulful-voiced fox began. "I'll let you two get back to playing good cop/bad cop or what sick game you perverts are into..."

"Later, Finn," Nick said with a roll of his eyes.

"Bye, Finnick! Thanks for the 'wedding' gift!" Judy called happily.

The tiny fox didn't turn around to acknowledge either of them in favor of flashing a peace sign over his head. Nick followed after him to shut _and lock_ the door. Nick turned and leaned up against the door and watched Judy start to actually count the cash.

 _This won't be good,_ he grimaced. As she pealed back $20 bill after $20 bill, her eyes grew ever wider. He tried to walk casually back towards her but stopped when she finished counting and looked up at him.

"Nick...?" she asked with accusatory concern.

In the span of five minutes, the two most important females in his life had looked to dress him down. He shoved his paws in his pockets and avoided looking at her.

"So, I've always been pretty good at betting the spread," he said with no confidence.

"But betting like this isn't exactly legal. Especially not for this much money," Judy replied. Nick picked up that she was more worried than angry—okay, maybe she was a bit angry too.

"Well, don't tell that to Wolford or Delgado... They love giving me their money."

The rabbit huffed in disgust and held the wad of cash out towards him as if she was revolted it was in her paws. Nick pushed it away.

"Put it in the honeymoon fund," he offered as a concession.

Judy eyed him up and down before shoving the cash in her pocket. Ill-gotten or not, they'd still have to pay for one somehow.

"We're still gonna talk about it," she added. Nick confirmed with a small nod.

"Among other things... Shall we begin," he motioned to the couch.

"Ugh, I know this is important, but I really _desperately_ need a shower. Can we meet back here in thirty?"

She waited for his response expecting a simple 'yes'. Instead, a small devilish grin spread across his snout.

"You know, there's a way we could conserve some water and meet back here in... fifteen?" he tempted her.

A quick battle raged brightly in her head. They needed to get serious and follow his mom's advice. They didn't need any more tomfoolery. They needed to clear the air and chart out their new future together and... and...

Who was she kidding?

"Is the front door actually locked?" she asked flatly.

The fox made a show of returning to the door and loudly rattling it to confirm that it was, indeed, locked. The rabbit let one of her ears fall over the side of her face with a smirk. She slowly started backing up towards the shower against the far wall of the warehouse. Nick began to saunter towards her picking up his pace with each step. As he got within arms length, suddenly, she turned and sprinted towards the shower with her mate giving chase.


	9. Yakkity Yak

A/N: Thanks to Gentle Disarray, forcedInduction, Chaos-Wolfy, Baneblade, Lola, crazybotanical56, ImNotLost18, Cimar of Turalis WildeHoppes, njlopez, ktrk5, Danny-171984, Wolf Guard Miestwin, JekKey X, Cukeygirl, 1n Rainb0ws, Ngrasta, Pyrophoricty, Grey Jelly, Max99, Uboat4, TheHumanPerson, and Ravyne and Katt B for reading and reviewing. Reminder: I respond to all reviews (eventually :D)! Feel free to ask questions!

Hi! Welcome back! Another 'heavier' chapter- _in more ways than one_. It's longer than what I thought it'd be. It also brings us to the close of Act I as Judy and Nick start glueing pieces to their relationship dream board. Be warned: So. Much. Verbal Fluff. After this, it's plot ahoy!

As always, I don't do much good with the spellin' and editin' and such so apologies.

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 8 – Yakkity Yak**

* * *

The overly amorous rabbit and fox were forced to take a very needed cold shower to get cleaned up— _mainly because of what they were doing while taking the hot shower eventually led to the hot water running out._ By the time they were finally clean, dry, and dressed, they'd wasted an entire hour. When they, at last, did make it to the couch, a wave of awkwardness had washed over them. They even sat down with a space in middle. It had been nearly four hours since they were purposefully _not_ touching each other.

Their eyes darted everywhere around the apartment while briefly making eye contact, then looking away, then doing it all over again. The continued until the tension became palpable.

"You start." / "I guess I'll..."

They laughed softly as Nick's paw found its way to one of hers.

"Okay, I'll start," Judy began.

They finally locked eyes for good and there seemed to be a bit of relief, but the awkwardness didn't leave. It was like an unwelcome house guest who suddenly got sick the morning you decided to ask them to leave.

For the second time in the last few hours, Judy found herself wondering why they just couldn't have sex and leave it at that.

Surely rolling in the sheets and passionately pawing and kissing was adequate enough to express their deep love for each other. Of course, it wasn't and that's why they had to talk. She knew what they had to say to each other and she knew that they both felt the same way—probably—so why was she faltering?

"How about we start with when we figured out we wanted something more?" Nick asked after seeing her open her mouth repeatedly without speaking.

Judy squeezed his paw in thanks. _When did I fall in love with Nick?_ Her mind twisted his question without her realizing it.

"I don't really know," the rabbit began almost embarrassed by the answer. "I think it crept up on me and... or... I was just trying to keep the thought at arm's length. I didn't think it was a real thing that was possible. It was a nice thought but... Then at the party... and with pen you gave me..."

She expected Nick to somehow judge her. Less than a week of pining over the fox didn't seem adequate enough. However, his eyes gave her no indication that her answer hurt him somehow—likely because it didn't. Still...

"Sorry, it doesn't sound deeper than that. I think it was more of it happening little by little over a long time."

"Like a frog slowly boiling in a pot of water?" Nick chided. Judy wrinkled her nose at him.

" _Oh_ , _that's sooo romantic, Nick,"_ she said flatly earning a smirk from the fox. She began stroking his paw again. "You know what I mean. All the little things just start adding up and before you know it, _boom,_ you're in love. It just took one more little push to finally realize it..."

They sat looking at each other for a moment. Nick wasn't sure if she was done or not, but he was sure that he had never seen a mammal look at him that honestly before. After another moment, he finally realized she had shifted to giving him a 'and what about you?' kind of look.

He actually didn't want to tell the truth. Partially because of how ridiculous it would make him look and partially because it could actually rewrite how they each viewed—what was till that point—their friendship. But looking into those deep purple eyes, he knew he couldn't make something up and live with himself.

"I knew about thirty minutes after I walked away from that press conference."

He looked down and away as he said it like he was guilty of something. She had pulled back enough to break their contact. When he brought his look back up to her, she appeared in a state of shock and disbelief. He gulped before he continued.

"I mean, maybe I didn't _really_ know then, but that's when I knew I wanted you in my life—whatever _that_ meant."

She pursed her lips together and drew herself in as the memories haunted her again. No matter how many times or how thoroughly he had forgiven her for that moment, it was still a source of personal embarrassment for the rabbit. She wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. She just allowed the silence to continue and hoped he'd have more to say. Thankfully...

"It didn't matter how hurt I kept telling myself I was, there was a part of me screaming to go back and forgive you on the spot. I wasn't ready to admit it, but I knew that wasn't really you speaking. And I certainly wasn't going to admit I was already afraid of losing you."

Judy ventured her paw back to his arm and was relieved when the contact was welcomed by his other paw on top of hers.

"Every day for a couple weeks, I dared myself to go back and find you. To tell you I had overreacted..."

"What stopped you?" Judy almost whispered. She knew it wasn't her place to be upset.

"I was... afraid."

"That I wouldn't accept your forgiveness?"

"A little. But mostly that we'd say what we'd need to say but then you would tell me I was right. That we shouldn't be partners or even... friends."

Tears pooled in the rabbits eyes as she closed the gap between them and curled herself around his arm. She was trying to be strong.

"So, as long as I didn't go to you, it was still possible that we could still be friends... How stupid was that...?" he asked rhetorically

"You dumb fox...," she managed to joke sniffling into his shoulder. He nuzzled the top of her head with a chuckle.

"Plus, it was getting pretty tense and I decided to lay low. That's when Finnick caught me..."

The rabbit composed herself and brought her eyes to his.

"Caught you...?"

"... _I think your ten dollars in pawpcicles can wait..."_ Nick said in his best impersonation of Judy that he could muster.

Judy tilted her head in confusion. Nick smiled at her daring himself to comment on how cute she looked then. He restrained himself.

"You started that damn recording a little early. I finally went to erase it a few weeks later, thinking it would get me some closure, but I couldn't figure out how. Then I heard your voice and the process started all over."

Judy pushed back from him again now mouth gaping in amazement.

"So, for another month, I'd think of you, play your voice, and then curse myself for being too chicken to find you."

These were supposed to be painful memories so why did Judy Hopps never feel more loved than right then? Her cheeks flushed as she wanted to grab the fox, ditch their clothes, and go right back to making love. But somehow, Ellen Wilde's voice threw up a verbal stop sign in her mind. She composed herself knowing there was much more to talk about.

"What did Finnick say...?"

"Damn near went savage on me. Told me how soft I was being pining for some dumb bunny cop..."

She scrunched her face at the comment.

"His words, not mine. Then, in typical Finnick fashion, he told me the only thing softer than acting heartbroken over you was not going to find you to tell you how I felt."

The rabbit again softened her body language realizing she was likely more than just acquaintances with Nick's former hustling partner.

"It took me another week to muster the courage to finally march into ZPD headquarters, but by then... Well, you remember."

All she could do was let his story sink in as she curled back against his shoulder. She wasn't crying _per se_ , but the tears that had been pooling were slowly escaping.

"Why... why didn't you tell me after we caught Bellweather?" she asked taking care not to sound upset. She could feel Nick shrug. And then his free paw swung around to wipe a wayward tear from her face.

"I think I was just too excited that you had come back. Too afraid I'd sound like a weirdo. Things moved so fast after that. I mean, I might have thought about it a couple times. I was almost ready to tell you the night before I left for the Academy but...,"

"...but if I said no," she began finishing his sentence. "You'd suddenly have three awkward months at the Academy not knowing if I'd still want to be partners when you got out... Ugh, we are so cliché..."

Judy threw her head back in mock disgust at themselves. Nick slid his body down in his seat and angled to the side drawing the rabbit over his chest a bit of an embrace.

"After I got back, it was just the tyranny of routine that made me push it all aside. I convinced myself that we already had something special and to be grateful for it."

She didn't respond verbally in favor of wrapping her arms around him and placing her head on his chest. They were both overwhelmed with what had been shared and the conversation needed a break. They rested to the sound of their own breathing and heartbeats.

It felt like twenty minutes but it was more like two when Judy, for the first time, realized the profound change that had occurred.

"Whoa," she almost whispered.

"Whoa, what?"

The rabbit looked up at the fox planting her chin in his chest.

"We're in love."

Nick was still practicing his genuine smile. Sometimes he got it right; other times he looked drunk. From Judy's point of view this time, he was close enough.

"Damn," he said with a mismatched reassuring tone. Before she could say anything, he pulled her up into simple kiss. Though they had last matched lips less than thirty minutes ago, it seemed like ten years. Hormones were already fogging the air before Nick broke it off to a whimpered protest from the bunny.

"I suppose it's time to start letting everyone know...," he suggested.

"I think everyone knew but us," she added.

Judy felt her cheeks warm at the thought of telling her parents. She was both excited and terrified. And despite the lack of an opportunity to tell them in the brief time since their new found union occurred, she was surprised she hadn't found a moment to call them. For some reason, calling them on the phone didn't seem like enough. She wanted to tell them in person with Nick right there, but she wasn't due for a trip back home for another month. She knew they'd fully accept them as mates. Still, she was concerned they'd have the same thoughts as Nick's mom had.

However, that wasn't really all that bad. They could deal. Having to deal with their co-workers on the other paw... Clawhauser and most of the beat officers would be fine but the teasing would be _merciless_. But maybe work wouldn't be bad either though she felt like she was forgetting...

Then it hit her like a half ton cape buffalo. _Literally._

"Bogo," Judy squeaked out. It was enough to snap Nick out of his love induced stupor. The rabbit pushed herself off the fox without protest from him and both sat up properly as the moment sobered them up. The fox made a mental note that their boss's name might be the most effective mood killer ever invented.

"We have to tell Bogo," she coldly continued.

Nick took a deep breath and started doing some mental calculations. Maybe there was a way they could...

"No hustles," his partner cut him off knowing exactly what was rolling around in the foxy shaped skull of his.

"Could we at least wait until we find a good moment?"

"No, we can't expose the department to any liability," Officer Hopps began to speak. "As of right now, everything has been off the clock. We've spent zero time on the clock as a couple so we've incurred no risk to the ZPD that could be used against us or the department."

Officer Wilde began processing what she was saying and he started to smirk.

"And if we go in there first thing, it's as close to a bargaining chip as we're going to get."

"Precisely," Judy said proudly. "It's our only shot at getting an exemption."

"Well, besides the fact that the manual doesn't expressly prohibit romantic relationships."

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when it dawned on her that she assumed...

"Wait! Are you telling me that I know something from the manual that the esteemed Office Judith Hopps doesn't?!"

The esteemed officer began to huff.

"Just gonna...," Nick began pulling out an imaginary camera and 'pressed click'. "...commit this one to the old memory bank."

"Okay, so I skipped over that part because I never thought it'd pertain to me. Happy?"

Nick scooped her up and pulled her tight.

"Not if it makes you upset," he said with a fake pout dripped with almost baby talk like cooing.

She pushed him away _immediately._

"We are _not_ going to be _that_ couple," she countered with a playful sneer.

"Thank goodness," Nick confessed. "But just so you know, the official standing of the department is that relationships, while not advised, and not prohibited and it is left up to the officers' supervisor if they can remain partners."

Judy smiled lightly before throwing herself around him again.

"Look at you!" she exclaimed in the same type of nauseating lover speak he had just used on her. "My little by-the-book fox cop."

"I thought you just said we weren't gonna be..."

"Just making sure you knew how utterly ridiculous that sounds," she said breaking them apart again.

"Noted," the fox said dully. "So, first thing Monday?"

"First thing Monday."

There was another heavy pause. They both knew there was more on the subject of their workplace romance. Nick cleared his throat.

"So, um...," he tried to begin. The rabbit knew exactly where he was going.

"What if he breaks us up as partners?"

"Yeah, that..."

Judy sighed after a deep breath and curled herself back up against her fox.

"If it comes down that, which I don't think it will, I know I'd rather start and end my day with you than the other way around."

Her answered earned a nuzzle from her mate.

"I can live with that."

Nick didn't want to move but his throat was signaling that the lone cup of coffee he had had that morning was an insufficient amount of fluid to have consumed through this part of the day. He pushed up to signal he was getting off the couch. She stood with him.

"I need some water. Want some?"

"Eh, I need to stretch and move," Judy said leading the way to the kitchen arms over her head.

"Like we haven't got enough exercise today," he replied in a low-gravel voice.

"You're never going to burn off my energy reserves, Wilde," she bantered back with a hint of sauciness.

"As much as I'd love to take you up on that challenge," Nick began as he got a drink from the tap. "I think we might want to cool our jets until we get a few more things sorted."

"You're no fun," the rabbit muttered as she pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

Nick smirked as she took a drink. They, early on in their cohabitation, had an exchange over bottle versus tap water. Judy insisted the bottle, Pawsoda Springs, was better—chemically—for her bunny body because it was the same spring Bunny Burrow drew its drinking water from. Nick languished over whether to tell her he'd been in the bottling plant in Zootopia and knew the 'spring' was a direct line from the city's supply. He was only hesitant because he'd have to explain how he knew—which would have involved explaining a bottle recycling hustle that started great but unraveled quickly. He decided not telling her would be like his own personal inside joke.

They both wordlessly began rummaging for food. Judy went with a granola bar. Nick went with his favorite cereal from when he was a pup that he recently started buying again after a sudden realization at the grocery store that, as an adult, he could buy whatever cereal he wanted and his mom couldn't stop him. Judy wasn't sure which she hated more: the fact that he was eating unhealthy amounts of processed sugar with every bite or that the fox she trusted her life to in the line of duty had completed the puzzles on the back of the box.

The pair had sat down at the table. She took another bite of granola as she watched said partner. He was reading the jokes on the side of the box to himself—again—as he shoveled another brightly colored spoonful of everything her naturalistic farm girl upbringing stood against into his muzzle.

 _The future father of my..._

It was a good thirty seconds before Judy got another actual breath in between big ragged coughs. Nick thought he was going to have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on the rabbit. She finally coughed out whatever tiny chunk of food she almost inhaled. She tried to chug water to drown out her most recent thought, but her body was still convinced something was trying to choke her to death.

"Carrots, are we gonna need to put you on an all-smoothie diet?"

He earned a glare as a couple more coughs straggled out of her throat.

"No, I just had a... surprising thought..."

"Yeah, they're sneaky little buggers," Nick said mindlessly returning to his bowl of cereal.

She really wasn't sure she was ready to talk about _this._ However, the needed to talk about it. Picking a mate and mating was a natural part of life... And the natural consequence of those actions was—she hoped one day far far _far..._

 _...far..._

...away—was having kits. But in the moment, she realized that she had never heard Nick give any indication one way or another about whether he wanted to have cubs or pups or kits—she wasn't sure what foxes called their offspring, actually.

And now his mother's wisdom became clearer. Communicating the big stuff was always going to be something they would need to work at. Judy wanted kits; she just wasn't thrilled with the prospect of having a full litter and being stuck at home with a half dozen— _or more—_ little ones while her career vanished in the rear view mirror. The pratfalls of coupling with another rabbit were ominous assuming she could even find one that could accept her career let alone one that would accept having an impossibly small family from a bunny point of view.

The rabbit kept up with the latest news as the interspecies movement had gained traction. She knew she and Nick could procreate. She had hated thinking about her best friend and partner from that type of biological perspective. But it was a pesky thought that wouldn't leave her alone even as she was also trying to not to think about an actual relationship.

About three months ago, yet another Furbook post from a closed-minded friend back in Bunny Burrow lamenting how times were changing re: Interspecies Relationships caused her to dive deeper into the subject. She turned on her internet browser's private mode. She wasn't ashamed. No, she was just curious. She was just trying to stay current, really. But nobody needed to know that she was curios.

The information on interspecies mating showed it was more difficult for a couple to conceive, but most eventually succeeded. The catch was only one or two offspring were produced at a time. They would almost always end up as mostly like one parent or the other rather than a new hybrid. It was becoming an answer to a problem that she really didn't have at the moment, but it was welcome just the same.

She had picked her way through the most common couplings that had been reported medically in the interest of scientific understanding; a lot of large prey and large predator pairings; a few smaller sized ones too. Judy had just searched for 'Rabbit and Fox Offspring' when Nick had stuck his head in her room asking if she knew where her sun glasses were. After very suspiciously slamming her laptop closed—which he couldn't have seen anyway since it was facing away from him—she told him he had to be more specific since he had a couple dozen pairs. He eyed her suspiciously then left.

She stared at her computer a long while dwelling on the fact that she was dwelling on the possibility. She kept thinking back to a rom-com she'd seen where male and female giraffe best friends made a pact to have a calf together if they both reached thirty-five single; hijinks ensued and they eventually got together. The movie's end was not helping her process the situation logically. She realized she was crossing a line she was not ready to deal with then. She opened the laptop, closed out the search, and buried those feelings deep for another day.

Back to the problem at paw now: _did he even want to? On her timetable? Would he be okay being an older..._

"I want kits if that's what you're winding yourself up about," the fox said with almost irritating levels of non-nonchalance.

Judy's muzzle hung open as her eyelids fluttered. She wanted to be ticked off but the news was welcome enough that her attempt to frown ran into her attempt to smile and they never made it to her face.

Nick had said it without breaking away from reading the cereal's ingredients list. He wasn't trying to be so, well, himself. The fox considered what 'thoughts' she could have had that would have made her choke on a granola bar. Given that they were talking about every aspect of the rapidly growing relationship, he quickly narrowed it down to one thing: kits.

Even if he was wrong, they still needed to talk about it anyway, so he charged ahead.

He knew this was another major potential grenade they had ignored with their recent actions. But like Judy realized, the subject of offspring as it specifically related to her plans on the subject had never come up—despite his rampant teasing of her species on the topic. She was so passionate and driven in her career that it would have made total sense to him if she didn't want to have kits.

He knew he was not going to undo everything if that were the case. He'd make the sacrifice. He loved her that much. But to keep it from being a potential festering problem, he went with offering his desire to be a dad in such a way that he could 'be convinced' to see her side of things without her feeling like she was the bad guy. And there was always the chance for a happy accident...

"Me... too," Judy managed to say louder than a whisper.

Internal Nick did a series of cartwheels. Legitimate feelings of love? Check. How to handle work? Double check. Having kits? Check number threesie. Besides the timing of starting a family, how to tackle their finances, and navigating the legal paperwork of becoming mates, he felt they might actually be in the clear. Outward Nick finally set the cereal box down and looked at his partner.

Judy read him as fully gave his attention to her and realized he had hedged.

"I will defer to you, since... you know," he said this time much more engaged.

"What makes you think I've got this planned out?"

Nick responded with a loving 'oh, come on' look. She folded on the spot.

"Work like hell to make detective by twenty-eight. Then try sometime after I turn thirty and hope to Rabbit Jesus for a small litter."

"But we're interspecies so, a big litter won't be a problem we have to worry about."

She stared blankly at how quickly he had responded and that he even knew that fact.

"You've looked into it?" Judy asked with an eyebrow shooting up.

"You haven't?" he asked coming off more like a knowing accusation.

She blushed as he stood up to put his cereal away and bowl in the sink. He kissed her on top of her head as he passed her by.

"So, what are 'we' hoping for when it's all said and done, Carrots? Five? Six kits? I know you rabbits are partial to big families."

She stayed silent as he finished up and turned back around to lean against the sink. He was a little surprised she was taking this long to respond but he did find the way she was biting her bottom lip with her front teeth to endearing. She was really calculating how to respond.

"Two? Three tops?" she winced as she said it. She had zero reason to be ashamed of such an answer. It was her life and her body for cheese sake! But the idea of 'rabbits have big families' was ingrained so deeply in her mind during childhood that no amount of empowerment was ever going to free her completely from feeling like she was letting her family, her hometown, and her species down by having such a small warren.

For his part, Nick concealed his surprise with a fake gasp of real relief—something only a professional hustler like himself should ever attempt. He shuffled over to the rabbit and, leaning behind her, wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck.

"That would be lovely," he said. His tone was reassuring but he was not sure why she seemed ashamed at her answer.

He stood over her till his back started to ache before they moved back to the couch. Nick laid down and Judy took his head in her lap as they dived into topic after topic.

Though the majority of mammals now preferred the normal dating and marriage route, the traditional laws regarding marking stated that they were already legal together as far as any court would be concerned. Still, Judy felt it critical they go through the legal filing process just to be safe. She didn't want to be in a situation where one of them was in the hospital and the other couldn't visit or make critical decisions because the staff thought one of them was lying and kept them out.

Nick realized this implied she was going to change her last name and told her that he was okay with her keeping her family name or hyphenating. Judy scoffed at the idea that she wouldn't be Judy Wilde. She may have been the most progressive rabbit alive, but even she still wanted to stick to a few traditions. He pointed out the millions of dollars the city had spent on large billboards and posters emblazoned with her image and her name 'Officer Judy Hopps'. She growled that she was taking his name and after that, it was their problem not hers.

Nick knew when it was time to drop a subject.

Unfortunately, finances were next. Their salaries weren't great by any stretch of the imagination, but because of Nick's hustling days, they were living rent free. The fox took a very deep breath before spilling the beans that while 'two hundred dollars a day' may have been a bit of a stretch, he still had a small nest egg— _after back taxes were paid_. Judy brought up the money Finnick had given her earlier having decided that it wasn't her place to tell Nick what to do with his money but that it still made her nervous. Nick promised to dial it back.

Judy's only issue was student loans but they were manageable as long as she lived in paper thin-walled shoebox apartments or 'freeloaded' off of 'dumb' foxes. They eventually decided to keep their own bank accounts but open a new one for joint bills and saving up for a more traditional house when the time came. Nick looked around his long-time home sad knowing his days there were numbered, even if it was still years away. But he knew this wasn't the place to raise a family.

They would have carried on, but Nick noticed it was approaching 6 o'clock. They felt they had covered enough ground to face his mother's certain inquisition, but they were both exhausted from talking already. Still, they parted to get ready and soon left the apartment paw in paw.

* * *

Later that evening they were curled up against each other in Nick's bed. Judy had never slept in his trailer before. The few times they had fallen asleep together had been in her room or on the couch. Paws and claws delicately traced along the lines of the other's body. They didn't feel the need to get any more physical. They didn't feel the need because they were wiped out and a little drunk. They were just relieved that they had been able to walk home without incident.

It had been a successful dinner with Ellen Wilde and several other members of Nick's family; some she had met before; others she hadn't like his Uncle Harris. She could sense a bit of anxiety between him and Nick as they glanced at each other often early on. Finally, Nick sought his uncle out and appeared to give him some assurance.

In primitive times, being a rabbit at a table full of foxes would not have ended well for her. However, tonight was nothing but congratulations and celebration.

The wine and the liquor flowed. The rabbit tried to pace herself. Ellen tried to protect her but got sidetracked when Nick's sister, Anna, arrived home late from work. Anna was Judy's age and a spitting image of her mother. Both the Wilde women were larger than the average vixen but in an athletic way. Still, Nick had them by several inches.

Judy finally got the grand tour of the house. She had been there briefly a couple times tagging along with Nick, but they were in a hurry. She finally got to see Nick's law degree from Meadowlands. Ellen took it down and let her inspect it.

Nick's room hadn't been touched since he left. Sports and movie icons, even a few punk rock band posters, graced the walls. The peak of embarrassment occurred when Ellen fished out his old acid-washed denim jacket and spiked gloves outfit and made him put them on. Cell phone pics were taken for evidence and blackmail. Nick Wilde could have been a punk rock legend if he knew how to play a guitar.

The tour ended oddly, Judy thought, in the master bedroom. However, she soon understood why. Ellen removed the family photo from her main dresser and for the first time, she saw what Nick's dad looked like. She felt out of place as the three foxes, Ellen, Anna, and Nick, squeezed together as Ellen held it. She felt even more out of place after Nick's sister grabbed her paw and pulled her into the group.

"He'd be proud of you, Nicky," Ellen said holding back a tear.

"He'd probably ask why your breath smelled like carrots," Anna teased.

"Anna Winifred Wilde!" her mom growled with a matching smack on her daughter's shoulder.

Anna blushed because her joke came off cruder than she had intended. Nick and Judy blushed because she wasn't far off the mark. But in typical Wilde fashion, she didn't apologize opting for a knowing smirk at the couple instead.

The rabbit examined the photo a little closer. She recognized Ellen straight away. The smallest fox was obviously Nick's sister, aged six or seven.

 _Nick. Was. Adorable._

...doing his best to look like a teenage rebel, but she could still see that spark in his eyes that betrayed the kind soul that she knew that he was. Then she saw where that spark came from. Her brain was telling her that the tall handsome male fox _was_ Nick, but she knew that he wasn't.

He wore a nicely tailored suit. His paws rested on his wife's and his daughter's shoulders. His smiled beamed with pride and she couldn't help but think he was grateful to have such a beautiful family. But she really couldn't notice much else but those eyes. She felt her paw grabbed and squeezed, almost uncomfortably hard. She looked up and saw a pair of the exact same eyes from the photo looking right back at her. Only they were set into Nick's face. The gratitude was unmistakable.

"Welcome to our family, Judy," Ellen Wilde said. It was a touching moment. That's why it had to be 'ruined'.

"I've got red fur dye when you're ready to really commit," Anna sassed.

Nick flicked his sister's ear hard enough to get a yelp out of her. She shoved him back.

"Knock it off! Both of you!" their mother barked as she went about setting the photo down before rummaging through the dresser's top drawer.

Anna smirked at the bunny then, tried to bed down a look of giddy excitement.

"I finally have a sister!" she squealed. She engulfed the Judy in a hug.

"Oh, you'd _love_ Bunny Burrow, then," Nick muttered.

Because she was wrapped in hug from his sister, Judy had to kick him in revenge.

"Found it," Ellen said taking the floor again.

The three youngsters turned to the matriarch and saw her holding a small black ring box. Anna squealed again. Nick gulped eyes wide. Judy tilted her head to the side. Ellen approached Judy and beckoned for her paws. Judy nervously gave them to her.

"We're not too traditional as a family, but the ones we do have, we keep," the elder fox said opening the box revealing a modest diamond gold ring. "Nick's grandmother gave this to me when I joined the family. She got it from her husband's mother, who, well, you can guess where I'm going with this."

Judy was bawling. Her upbringing told her that it was polite to offer a refusal to nice gifts out of modesty then be 'won over' by the gifter's second attempt. But, with that story, there was nothing to refuse.

"So emotional," Nick's sister whispered out of the side of her mouth. Nick replied with a playful snarl.

Ellen waggled the box slightly indicating it was time for Judy to take the ring out. The sniffling rabbit did and attempted to place the ring on her finger. It was a rare moment for them to notice the actual size difference between their species. The ring could almost be a bracelet on her wrist.

"Here, let me...," Ellen began turning back to the drawer she got the ring out of. She produced a small gold chain. She took the ring back and looped it on the chain. Closing the lock, she placed the necklace around the rabbit's neck.

"It'll do for now. I'm not sure if it can be resized or not...," Ellen said brushing the fur on the side of Judy's check.

"Thank you. It's... absolutely beautiful," Judy said regaining her composure enough to find her manners.

Nick's mom moved to pass the box to her son. He reached out to grab it only for her to snap it shut near the tip of his finger.

"You owe her a proper proposal," his mom said sternly. He nodded like a scolded kit and grabbed the box. She didn't let go of it. "I mean it, Nicky. Sooner rather than later."

"Yes, ma'am," Nicky said giving her ever ounce of respect he could muster. She finally let him pull the empty box from her paw.

Now, in the dark of Nick's trailer, Judy was holding the ring up in the small sliver of light that managed to make its way into the 'bedroom'.

Twenty four hours ago they were just friends having a heated argument.

Now they were mates.

It made sense while making no sense at all.

She pushed down an urge to be overwhelmed by the sudden speed of..., well, everything.

No, she was good. They were good. They had this.

The ease at which an entire family of foxes accepted her into their skulk was all she needed to feel like things were going to be okay. She knew it would be the same with her family. Again, it was just a year ago they had sent her to big city with a can of fox repellant. Now they were helping another fox get his pies sold in stores and practically begging a second fox to marry their daughter—a hare-brained (pun intended) plan that may have actually worked. That alone would be a sizable change _for a decade_ and yet it had happened in just a single year.

His family was now her family. And though their partnership functioned on the same intensely bonded level one would attribute to a familia connection before, now it was official. Without being _too_ forward or direct, that meant issues with his family were now her issues. She now knew that Nick was much more involved and connected with his extended family than she previously thought. It made her smile. Judy had always hoped that behind those walls, that was the case, but she still sensed there was some tension—some undercurrent pertaining to whatever happened to his father, his mother, his uncle, and Wilde Times. All families had _something_ she reminded herself.

Mates or not, the rabbit knew she couldn't come out and start butting in. Whatever happened, those wounds had healed or at least scarred over enough to let them remain a family. They weren't her scars to tend to. Perhaps, though, she could offer support in another way. Throughout the night, she kept a keen eye anytime Nick and his uncle interacted. She wasn't sure if Nick was ready to make amends or not or if he was going to help his uncle with the problem he had come to him about that week—a problem Nick had detailed to her before it got shoved aside by their sudden relationship change.

She could at least offer an option to help out and without making it her concern.

"Hey, Nicky? You still awake?" she asked surprising even herself by calling him 'Nicky'.

"Mmm-hmm," he replied.

"I was thinking tomorrow... I've got a play-date with little Judy... If you wanna...," she didn't quite finish her thought.

She could sense him start to tense up. The fox drew her into a much tighter embrace nearly covering her completely. Nick never really came right out and said he was nervous for her when she went to the Big's to spend time with her goddaughter. While it wasn't exactly a safety concern, there was just something unsettling to him that this walking talking fireball of optimism had somehow made herself 'family' to the a cynical criminal mobster.

There were things that shouldn't go together but still worked—like a certain bunny and fox—but there were other things that shouldn't go together because there would be a body count before it was all over—like a principled cop and mafia don.

If he and Judy were french fries dipped into a milkshake, Judy and the Bigs were like matches and tank of gasoline. He knew Mr. Big was incredibly cautious as a criminal mastermind otherwise he'd be in jail. The shrew wouldn't be so careless as to allow something to happen in Judy's presence that she could not lawfully ignore.

 _But why have a fox guard the hen house if you don't have to?_ Nick recalled the speciest phrase that was much more commonly used in his youth than it was today.

Nick blatantly saw through what Judy was attempting. Even as he held her tight as if to protect her from his own nightmares about her and the Bigs, he had to smirk. She was getting better and better at playing him. And he loved it. She knew what his uncle had asked and she knew this was a pretense for him to gain an audience with little Judy's grandfather.

"I suppose I'm free, if that's what your asking me," he half-yawned.

"I am," she replied wrapping her arms over his and pushing her head deeper into his neck and shoulder. "We're supposed to have brunch on the island at 11."

The island.

 _Dammit, the island._

He couldn't squeeze her any tighter without suffocating her. He'd only been a couple times and he never felt safe even though, at the time, he was in Mr. Big's good graces. The island was a small private estate Big would retreat to with his family for holidays and weekends. The only way to reach it was by boat. There would be no cell reception. That meant no backup; no way out if something went wrong. They'd be on an island stacked with professional criminals that knew how to make mammals disappear leaving no shred of evidence for the ZPD to find. They would never...

"I can feel you worrying, ya big baby," Judy finally said pushing out of their embrace for a little space to get ready for sleep. "I'll keep you safe from those big bad mobsters."

She was right. He was worrying more than he should. He'd still need to be on his primo-best behavior but wasn't anything he couldn't manage.

"Love you," he said planting a pair of kisses at the base of each of her ears.

"Love you back more," came her response—one she'd heard her parents use countless times before with each other.

She used to find it off-putting, but now with the chance to use it herself, she understood it's significance. The constant reminder that relationships needed to grow day-in and day-out and that mates needed to pull and push each other forward. She finally closed her eyes knowing that tomorrow was going to be another day and—as long as she had this fox by her side—it sure as hell wasn't going to be worse.


	10. I Know I Left a Plot In Here Somewhere

A/N: Thanks to TheHumanPerson, Ravyne and Katt B, forcedInduction, Baneblade, Wolf Guard Miestwin, JustNibblin, Zootopian Fluff, Matri, ktrk5, ChaoticImp, Ngrasta, Sappopo, Pyrophoricity, ImNotLost18, Erebusthehyena, Cimar of Turalis WildeHoppes, Shardetector, Drust, Danny-171984, Shvanell, DiegoRedeemedLover, upplet, and Irual, for reading and reviewing. I'll be responding to everyone soon!

Had to take a little break from this story to allow the fields of creativity to rest. I also had work. I do film and video work so creative capital must be spent there first. However, I had a ton of new little fic ideas that may very well pop up soon as a drabble collection.

One last thing, I used to be fairly good at proofreading my own work. I guess not so much anymore. I have discovered an old trick though that should dramatically improve grammatical errors: voice to text. The ears discover what the eyes were missing. Anywho... Enjoy!

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 9 – I Know I Left a Plot In Here Somewhere**

* * *

 _Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump._

Judy clamped hard onto Nick's knee with her paw stopping his incessant nervous leg from rattling the whole train car apart.

"It will be okay," she said flatly.

"You're almost becoming a serviceable liar," Nick shot back.

The rabbit ever so slightly turned her head towards him, just enough to eye him in her periphery. She could see his tension. His shoulders were pinched tight. His paws took over his nervous movement from when she stopped his leg. Nick was on edge.

"Maybe if I had a better teacher, I'd have mastered it by now...," she replied with more honey than vinegar hoping a good round of banter would ease his nerves.

He sneered.

Over time, Nick was giving Judy lessons in the art of the hustle. While the old Nick entertained the idea that a fully-trained con-bunny with Judy's indomitable cuteness would be the unstoppable force to his sly-fox immovable object, the lessons were purely to make her a better police officer, interrogator, and, one-day, detective.

He hadn't shown her anything too complex, but they had started with how to read mammals—a subject that if she couldn't get past, there was no point in teaching her anything else. How a mammal walked, talked, stood in a line, where they kept their gaze, what kind of clothes they wore, and the objects they carried were all part of a tapestry that a street hustler could use to identify the right mark.

 _Or..._ an angle that a detective could use to crack a suspect.

Judy was horrified at first. The blasted Bellweather fiasco was entirely predicated on getting prey to make snap judgements about predators. Now, Nick was telling her that was exactly what she had to learn to do with all mammals to be a better cop. The fox bent over backwards to explain that in order to get an animal to cooperate with you—for hustling or as part of an investigation—you had to find a common ground to step off from. Not everyone that she was going to meet was going to have unpaid taxes she could leverage against them. That meant sizing them up in a few precious seconds and acting accordingly.

Once the profile was in paw, you could start a conversation. A caribou with a nice watch would always stop to give you the time if asked. A panther in a soccer jersey was always ready to talk about the game from the other night. A giraffe absorbed in her cellphone could be further distracted by asking for directions. Whatever approach you took with an animal, the goal was always the same: divert their attention and get them to lower their defenses just long enough to get what you needed from them.

If you were a thief, you were diverting their attention so your accomplice could pick their pocket. If you were a hustler, you were getting them to buy what your were selling. If you were a cop, your goal was to get them to give up information.

Nick left it at that. He had learned the picks and the lifts, but he tended to steer clear of them as a trade and their many legal problems that followed. However, the mammal reading skills were indispensable when it came to getting what he wanted while constructing a hustle. You had to figure out what _they_ wanted so you could get them to give you what _you_ wanted. So, that's what Judy had to learn first.

Once on board, she wasn't half-bad out of the gate. Once she realized that there really were obvious things that gave away every mammal that weren't speciest to observe, Judy was on board. Nick moved her on to lying much quicker than he anticipated. That's when the real resistance came out.

" _Come on, Carrots. You've lied before. Haven't you at least told someone you were 'fine' even though you weren't? Or that it 'was nice to see them'?"_

" _Yes, but that was different. That was to be polite. This is... This is... to trick them into them giving me something I want."_

" _Exactly. When you tell someone that you're fine when you're not, what do you want? You want them to not ask you any more questions! Or when you say 'it was nice to see you', you want them to still think you are a friend so if you_ do _need something from them in the future, you can still get it."_

 _The rabbit shot him a look bordering on contempt._

" _That is twisted..."_

" _Just watch and learn," Nick said cooly unaffected by her disappointment._

 _They had just returned to the station mid-day after solving an easy vandalism 'case'. Seemingly all the good cases were still beyond their reach. They were approaching Clawhauser's desk and the fluffy cheetah was receiving a fresh batch of case files._

" _Benji? How's our favorite spotted cat doing?" Nick said full-on con-mammal charm activated._

" _Hey, you two!" Clawhauser practically singed. "Just getting the new..."_

" _Wait a minute," Nick interrupted while also bringing him and Judy to a stop. "Is that uniform hanging a little looser around your chest? Have you lost some weight?"_

 _The ZPD's front desk mammal tilted his head to the side ever so briefly in confusion before a smile spread across his muzzle. He tugged on the fabric of his uniform with a tiny squeal._

" _I knew it! I mean, I just started wearing this Fit Bit yesterday," he said holding up his wrist to reveal the device straining to stay on him. "I didn't think I'd get results_ this _fast, but thanks for noticing, Nick!"_

 _Nick suavely closed the distance to the desk and leaned against it._

" _Don't mention it, Spots," he cooed giving a nearly apoplectic Judy a wry glance. "I'm sorry, I interrupted you. You were saying something..."_

" _Oh, yes!" the cheetah said picking up the pile of fresh case files. "Chief told me to hand out any new cases that came up since roll call... Bunch of snoozers... except..."_

 _Spots started thumbing through the stack of files giving Nick a chance to irk Judy with a wink._

" _...Chief still wants to ease you guys in to the big stuff, but there is this juicy B &E at the Zootopia Museum of Art..."_

 _He let the words hang as he seemed to be deciding whether or not to give them a crack. Nick kept his calm cool friendly neighborhood fox face on. Judy was stuck between wanting to death glare her partner and screaming in excitement for an actual case._

" _I think you two can handle it," the cheetah said holding the case file out to the pair._

 _Judy jumped to snatch it but was a moment too slow for Nick who smirked in victory._

" _Thanks, Benji, we owe you a box of...," the charming fox said walking away before stopping. He turned back to the cheetah with another smile and waggled a finger. "Oh, nope. Wouldn't want to undo all that hard work you've been doing."_

" _Oh, stop," an embarrassed Clawhauser replied. "And good luck!"_

 _When Judy finally caught up to Nick, they were out of their colleague's hearing range—and Judy was capable of frying an egg on her forehead._

" _THAT... was... you...," she seethed but words weren't coming fast enough. Finally, she stopped walking with her partner and stomped her foot. "You lied to him!"_

" _I like to think I offered him encouragement," Nick said over his shoulder without stopping._

 _Judy was forced to catch back up again._

" _You know there's no way that he's lost any weight after only twenty-four hours!"_

" _Perhaps, but after he almost broke down crying this morning when he refused the donut Grizoli offered him, he_ needed _to hear that he was on the right track. And_ WE _needed a bonafide-for-real case for a change."_

" _But this feels so wrong... I'm not sure I'm okay with this...," Judy trailed off as if a small piece of her once pure heart was breaking off and falling into the abyss._

" _Do you want to give the case back?"_

 _Nick's question was followed by several steps of silence._

" _No," the rabbit growled._

" _There's my willing accomplice!" Nick cheered. He moved to pat her on the head but his paw was stopped by a look of guilt, shame, contempt, and the threat of rabbit on fox violence._

" _You'll feel better once we catch this master thief. Promise," Nick opted for a more conciliatory tone as they finally reached their squad car._

The case turned out to be a media storm barn-burner where all clues pointed to the museum's janitor, but Judy had managed to follow her gut. She cleared the innocent hyena who was being framed by the museum's assistant manager and real thief: a gazelle with a mountain of gambling debt.

As the train carried them through Savanna Central, Nick looked down at his best friend and stifled a smile.

"There are no bad teachers. Only bad students," he said turning his shoulders to her a giving her a more relaxed look.

"That... is the opposite of how that sentence goes," she replied.

She reached over, grabbed one of his fidgeting paws, and maneuvered it around her shoulder. The contact seemed to do the trick to calm the fox down for the rest of the train ride. Even as they were greeted by the hulking mass of Kevin the polar bear at the harbor-side train station and escorted to Mr. Big's private boat, Nick seemed to remain cool.

The ride on the boat was somewhat less tense than Nick had feared. Probably because Judy stood excitedly at the bow letting the wind ruffle her fur and flap her dress against her front. The fox concentrated on his mate drinking in her joy at the simple boat ride. She was wearing a light yellow dress with a pleated skirt. A blue belt paced her midriff with matching blue ribbon tied near the tips of her ears. He felt a little sheepish in joining her at the bow in his typical Pawaiian shirt, tie, and slacks combo, but not as sheepish as he felt about expending any worry about the day to come.

He was with Judy. He was safe.

The island sat in the maw of the river that formed the Canal District farther upstream. The river then dumped itself into the bay that flanked Savanna Central. Everything had an Old World Tuskan flare. Stucco-styled villas with red tiled roofs. Vineyards and olive trees. You could almost taste the wine and the pasta when you stepped onto the dock.

They were greeted by the entire Big clan but the principle interaction was between Judy, Fru-Fru, and Little Judy. Nick had to gulp before giving a solitary wave to Mr. Big who returned only a raised eyebrow.

Fru, who always insisted on being called just Fru, decided they should have brunch first. Once seated, it took all of ten seconds for the big news to break. Judy showed off the ring which Ellen had given them. She also gave the abbreviated version of how they suddenly went from best friends straight to mates. The entire time Nick felt as though Mr. Big was eyeing him under his bushy eyebrows—but he couldn't be sure.

Fru then revealed her own big news: she was pregnant again. Judy squeezed Nick's paw so hard that he yipped. The rabbit didn't notice as she gave him a look bordering on near rapture. The fox suddenly had a new mental picture of 'baby crazy' and was suddenly terrified for reasons he could not fathom.

With brunch finished, Mr. Big excused himself to go attend to some 'business'. Nick wisely stayed with the ladies as Fru gave Judy the grand tour. They were shadowed by one of the younger polar bears that Nick hadn't really met before. The buildings, paths, and spaces on the island were intricately woven to accommodate both the tiny shrew family and their polar bear attendants. Occasionally the bear would lift Fru and Little Judy from one level or path to another like a moving living bridge.

Eventually, they found themselves in the main garden and lawn out behind the central villa. Nearly the entire Big clan seemed to be assembled. The older adults hung around the fringes talking while the kids all played together with their parents and Judy. As per usual, Nick took up post along the edge and stole looks from his partner.

His thoughts went immediately to her overjoyed reaction at Fru Fru's pregnancy—and more importantly the tell-tail sent spike the rabbit gave off as a result. That scent was one of the cabal of scents it wasn't polite to discuss in public. That one specifically was the 'I want to have a litter right now' scent. It filled the fox with anxiety the likes he'd never felt before.

He wondered why he didn't feel this way the day before when the topic came up. Maybe it was because they were talking about it as a matter of course. It was agreed they'd wait to make detective and they'd aim for two or three kits or cubs when they were ready. Simple. Easy. Scent-spike free.

Today, with her face, her squeal of delight, her squeeze of her paw around his, and her sudden change in scent, it all suddenly became a reality.

 _She's going to be the mother of my kits,_ was all that Nick could manage to think.

The visuals he was being provided weren't helping. Judy appeared to be engaged in a recreation of Gulliver's Migrations as her normally petite bunny frame loomed over the tiny shrews. Her laughter and effortless handling of the children, like he'd seen many times before during their Ask a Cop sessions, brought everything together in an expansive bundle of nerves.

Reality wasn't crashing around him. It was slowly pressing him down into the earth.

It was one thing to pine after your closest female friend hoping to spend the rest of your life with her. Actually having that hope matched and acted upon was another. But there was something new beyond that that had never once entered into his dreams. They weren't just committed to spend their lives together—they were committed to bring _new_ lives into existence.

 _Some day. Eventually. When they were ready,_ said his conscious self.

 _Now! Now! Now!_ shouted his deeper animal urges.

He didn't know how to reconcile the two feelings, but the fox realized one thing: the trappings of reproduction were in no way the exclusive realm of females.

He needed to shake this weighty feeling off. Deep down, he knew this is what he wanted; what he desired; what he needed. But it was all hitting him at once putting a look of unease on his face that shouldn't be there.

"A mammal shouldn't look troubled on the day after his wedding," crooned a voice that did _nothing_ to put Nick at ease.

Nick turned to see Mr. Big approach him along a raised platform that allowed the shrew to enjoy the back patio in the company of larger sized mammals.

"Technically, we didn't have a wedding," Nick offered very delicately. "We haven't even filled out the paperwork yet."

Mr. Big stopped and puffed his cigar. Then, he waved his paw in the air.

"Toe-mate-o. Ta-mato. But if you two do have a ceremony, I know some mammals. Good rates."

Nick released a freight train of tension with the softest of chuckles. Mr. Big sized him up.

"There's a good cub. Nothing to fear from the big bad shrew."

Nick begged to differ but did not voice his objection. Mr. Big settled in beside the fox to watch the family play.

"You're something, Nicky," the crime boss started after several moments of silence. "I can't remember a mammal that ever worked their way back into my good graces."

The fox's instincts were screaming at him that this was some sort of a setup. NO ONE ever worked their way back into Mr. Big's good graces.

"Are you sure that's not just Judy's all-encompassing aura covering for me?" Nick asked softly.

The shrew scratched his chin in thought.

"Perhaps, but you're here now. And though I sense you have business to discuss with me, I'm feeling no animosity towards you."

 _Rats... No offense to rats,_ Nick thought. _Might as well rip off the band-aide._

"As a matter of fact, there is something I need to ask about. If I may..."

Big took a long pull from his cigar. It looked drastically oversized in his paws but it was the smallest available for any mammal. He let the smoke tumble from his snout before eyeing Nick again.

"That depends on whether or not I'm talking to a cop."

In an instant, whatever remaining attentions Nick had on reserve were pulled into the conversation. It was more instinct than necessity. Mr. Big was now maneuvering the conversation with subtle phrasing that only a lifetime of skirting the law could teach. It was a language that the fox, while a little rusty, knew all too well. It was intoxicating to a silver-tongued wit such as himself. It's why when Big took him in, he stuck around until his unfortunate slip up. He would be lying if he said that he didn't miss this type of verbal 'sparring'.

"You are talking to a member of the Wilde Family," Nick said gaze unbroken from the jovialities on the lawn.

His host nodded with an almost pleased growl.

"So you've patched things up with the rest of your family. I am glad to hear of this. Without his family, a mammal is nothing."

There was a pause as they both let the words sink in. Mr. Big continued.

"It always pained me to hear about that business when you were a pup. You're father was a good fox. He wanted better for you... and your kind. Even though your family's business has kept it clean, that's why they held you out. Out of respect for him. You understand that now don't you?"

"Yeah, it all turned out," Nick winced but it was somehow in a good way. "Now, I'm a cop with a bunny for a mate."

"Like I said, you're something, Nicky," the shrew smiled—or at least that's what Nick thought he saw him do. "But enough of the past. What did your dear Uncle Harris send you to ask about?"

Nick drew his breath slowly. Mr. Big always knew a lot more about any situation than one would ever think he did so it didn't surprise him that his guesses were this accurate. He probably saw the world as a grand chess board and he controlled many more pieces than any of his fellow crime bosses, government officials, or law enforcement agencies.

"He sends his respects. He's had some visitors recently. Polar bears. He knows they aren't yours. Or better yet, at least one of them isn't anymore."

"Hmmm... Petrov. Koslov's cousin," Big said as his mood soured ever so slightly. "Too hot tempered for our tastes. We had to cut ties with him. Has he been causing trouble?"

"If casing the casino qualifies, then yes. My uncle doesn't think he's working on his own. He was hoping you would know."

"Digger," the crime boss said so quickly and matter-of-factly that it conveyed anger.

"Digger?"

"Another hot head we had to send away. My sister-in-law's nephew. A mole."

Nick raised an eyebrow at the realization the Big family had an interspecies couple. It was the first he'd heard of it but then again, he hadn't been near the family in the intervening time when interspecies coupling stepped into the light of day.

"He was working his way up the ranks but his ambition nearly started a turf war with the Jackals. He embarrassed me. He embarrassed the whole family. But I took pity on his poor mother and banished him."

Nick felt his stomach drop. The choices were always banishment or icing. He had been the recipient of Big's 'pity' once. He could hear the faintest hint of regret in the shrew's voice that he hadn't iced the mole.

"I heard not too long ago that he was back in town and looking to put a crew together. Now we know why."

"I'm sure the other families won't appreciate him changing the balance of power."

"Nor your bull-headed chief."

Nick smirked—not at the subtle jab at Bogo—but at the double-speak it concealed. Big couldn't help because he'd have to cross crime family territorial lines, but he could grant his blessing to the involvement of the ZPD to help rid all concerned of their mole problem.

Silence followed that was surprisingly relaxed. Big exchanged his cigar for a tiny cocktail and Nick was offered the same only fox-sized. He didn't refuse as per not-wanting-to-be-iced.

"So, why aren't you out there playing?" the crime boss finally offered.

"Not entirely my style," Nick replied.

"Well, if I were a younger mammal and had a beautiful bunny for a mate, I wouldn't be standing where you are."

"We've already _played_ plenty," the fox said a little too saucy. He regretted it immediately.

"That's your mate you're talking about there. Show a little respect."

Nick's regret and respect registered in an audible click of his jaw snapping shut

"You gotta learn to know when I'm messing with you...," Mr. Big chuckled.

Nick let a nervous laugh escape and took a swig of booze.

"I once wore that face you had on earlier. I was once a newly minted groom myself. It didn't take long for those burdens and responsibilities to worm their way through the cracks. Of course, we already had our first child on the way and work was tough to find for those of us who just stepped off the boat..."

Nick's swiveled his entire attention to the old shrew not really believing that he was receiving a heart-to-heart.

"How'd you cope?"

"I just did what I had to do. There's no magic in it, Nicky. Just willpower. Either a mammal has what it takes or he doesn't. While we don't have to be the provider-protectors for our mates like days of old, we still have to do whatever it takes to be the males our mates deserve."

Nick again had to internalize what he was hearing. The shrew was telling him that marriage was a test of the will but beyond that, there was no road map or secret list of items to check off a list. As if sensing the young fox's doubt, Mr. Big continued.

"You're a lot like your father... and your grandfather, and your great-grandfather. They all had it. You've got it. You'll do fine."

Nick smiled in a rare moment of ease in the company of the most feared crime boss in all of Tundratown.

"We're not so different, Nicholas," Big said after another small break in conversation.

"Oh?" Nick raised an eyebrow wracking his brain to draw a real parallel between himself and the crime boss.

"We both took to the shadier side of the street because we had to. Prejudice is cruel and tough to overcome. It buried my chances at the straight life long before you were born. But you, thankfully, didn't get too deep..."

 _Or iced,_ Nick thought to himself in a very quiet whisper in a sound proof bunker in his own mind.

"...I've tried to steer my offspring towards legitimacy like the bunny has steered you. More mammals like her and we'd have some real hope. It won't be for us though, but maybe in a generation or two. But our children? Our children's children?"

Nick nodded. His sort-of-father-figure-that-could-still-have-him-dissappeared-at-any-moment was leaving a lot unsaid—probably because he didn't have to articulate it to a fellow predator like Nick. The world needed a lot more Judy's. Mammals capable of seeing their own misguided beliefs about others for what they were and jettison those beliefs from their being. And not only that, but become willing to take on those prejudices head on by seeing passed exteriors and into the hearts of their fellow mammal.

Yes, the world needed a lot more Judy's. She couldn't be cloned, but Nick suddenly had a different thought—there was another way.

 _Maybe three kids wasn't enough..._

He quickly stuffed that thought down a deep hole in his subconscious with a shiver and looked on as the rabbit and shrew kits continued to frolic.

As if something tingled in her brain, Judy looked up to see Nick looking straight at her. She smiled which dragged a smile out of the fox. Once again, he realized that he didn't have anything to fear. With a deep breath, Nick gave a thankful nod to their host and began walking towards his mate and the Big offspring asking them if they knew how to play an old fox game called Catch the Skulk.


	11. Hey, Chief!

A/N: Thanks to KevinStoner, .2015, Redmanjc, DiegoRedeemedLover, Zootopian Fluff, Shvanell, Danny-171984, 1n Rainb0ws, Pryphoricity, Cimar of Turalis WildeHoppes, Ngrasta, TheHumanPerson, Andrew 2000, Rishi Diams, SinisterLady, Makokam, and GunBuilder for reading and reviewing. Don't forget that I respond to every review and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Hey! This chapter was a chore to write. I thought it'd be pretty simple and short. Wrong! Anyway, I hope it turned out fun! Won't take you too long to figure out what's about to go down. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

 **Chapter 10 – Hey, Chief!**

* * *

"Assignments!" Chief Bogo bellowed just as he always did from his podium in the bullpen.

The rabbit tried to key in on her boss's voice but she simply could not. Her heart was racing. Her muscles were twitching. Her mouth was parched. She was as nervous as a June bug at a frog convention.

 _And..._ she was a little pissed off.

Her now mate-of-a-partner sat next to her showing zero signs of trouble or worry.

Mr. Calm, Cool, and Collected.

Mr. Never Let Them See That They Get to You.

 _Mr. Stupid Carefree Fox Face._

Judy's mind swung from terror at the task at hand to anger at her partner's lack of concern. If it were any other time, any other place, any other situation, she would be taking comfort in his demeanor; drawing strength from him. But this time...?

 _He should be freaking out because **I** am FREAKING OUT,_ her thoughts screamed.

She couldn't explain where her courage, bravery, or 'I can do anything' spirit had run off to. Telling Bogo about the not-so-small shift in their relationship at the first chance they got was her plan and she always carried out her plans with gusto!

However, the plan had been thwarted out of the gate and now she was stuck waiting to get a word with their chief. And waiting meant thinking and thinking meant worrying and worrying meant very bad things.

They had gotten to the station early hoping to catch the Chief before roll call. They were in for a surprise, though, when Clawhauser cold shouldered them. The usually cheerful and always plump cheetah eyed them walking in the front door but failed to give them the standard wave and hello. Instead, he busied himself with his keyboard.

" _Morning, Claws," Nick began as they reached his desk._

" _Oh, hey," he replied without so much as a look in their direction._

 _Judy and Nick glanced at each other in silent communication. They both wondered if they should ask what was up. Judy made a split-second decision that they needed to get on with business._

" _Is the Chief in yet?" she began cheerful but cautious. "We really need to talk to him."_

" _Haven't seen him," Clawhauser said lifelessly._

 _Judy's shoulders slumped. She was as kind and as sensitive as the next rabbit and she cared immensely for her friends—and Benjamin Clawhauser was one of her best. As much as she and Nick had to come clean to Bogo about their new relationship right that very second, she could not leave him hanging emotionally._

" _Is everything alri...," she was cut-off as the cheetah spun, not to her, but to Nick._

" _How could you!" he demanded of the ZPD's first fox officer._

 _Nick actually took a step back. Benji hadn't bared his teeth or claws, but his pout was angry enough._

" _You've got me at a loss here, big guy," Nick gulped._

" _I heard you went on a date with Assistant DA Howlton!" the cheetah's voice was rising._

So, that's what this is about... _Judy thought with an eye roll. That whole evening seemed so very long ago, but it had only been a couple of days. She also felt a tidal wave of jealousy surge through her heart at the mention of the vixen. She couldn't explain why. Rather, she knew why but she wasn't going to admit it—Nick was now hers and hers alone. If another female got any ideas, she'd bite their face off._

 _Nick put up a calming palm as a look of relief somewhat filled his face._

" _No need to cause a scene. It was just a date," he soothed. Clawhauser relaxed, but only slightly. "Besides, Judy was on a date too."_

 _Judy knew that Nick was now toying with the dispatcher and shot him a look of contempt._

 _However, when she looked back at Clawhauser, her heart broke. The poor cat had transformed from anger to soul-crushing sadness, betrayal, and mourning. Tears were pooling in his eyes as he looked back at her. The rabbit wasn't completely clueless. She knew that the big cat was keen on she and her partner becoming something more. It never bordered on creepy though, just a bit too enthusiastic for her taste. Now that wish had come to pass but Nick found it necessary to torture the well-intentioned cat before letting their biggest 'fan' know the truth._

 _Nick was going to pay for this. Nick was going to pay for this hard._

" _Chief's..," the sobs were bordering on uncontrollable. "Not... in yet. I can let him know you... Excuse me!"_

 _Clawhauser made for the privacy of the bathroom—his sobs gaining the attention of most of the early arrivers at ZPD headquarters._

 _The rabbit placed two clinched fists on top of her angrily thrown hips as she unleashed her ire on her best friend. Nick gazed down at her with his typical half-lidded eye smirk. This only served to infuriate the rabbit more. The fox decided he couldn't let this play out much further. He half-jumped over the front of Clawhauser's desk and began looking around in the cubby holes on the other side._

" _What are you doing?" his partner asked incredulously._

 _He didn't answer her verbally. He just kept going until he found what he was looking for. He tipped back over the side with a piece of paper which he offered to Judy. She almost couldn't see straight she was so infuriated, but the fox just kept up the smirk like he was somehow in the right._

" _Just take it," he said waving it slightly in her face._

 _She snatched it without care of wrinkling or tearing it. Her nostrils flared as she continued to stare beams of death at Nick. Whatever Nick was handing her had better have been good to even slightly change her opinion._

 _It took her a few seconds to be able to see straight enough to make out the words and symbols on the page. At the top was a row of hearts and the letters_ 'NxJ' _written in the biggest heart. Down the side was a list of nearly every officer, detective, and staff member on the day shift. Across the top but under the hearts, were dated columns. The rest of the paper was a grid. Some of the boxes had 'x's' in them. Others had circles._

" _What... is this?" Judy said as blood seemed to drain from her face and ears. A knot formed in her stomach._

" _Benji was running a betting pool on when we'd finally had sex... Or went out... Or killed one another... Or mated... I'm not sure exactly what the criteria was," Nick said mostly neutral._

 _He grabbed the piece of paper back as the rabbit tried to stutter out a response._

They were... betting on us? s _he managed to think but not say._

 _The tank that held her rage at Nick started to drain. The fluid began to fill a new tank reserved for Clawhauser and the rest of her fellow officers. She was offended—or at least felt that she should be offended. She could hammer out the details later._

" _You still mad at me?" Nick offered not trying to act confident that he was already off the hook._

" _It's about fifty-fifty," Judy replied trying not to reveal that he_ was _already off the hook._

" _Oh, looks like Higgins won!" Nick said glancing at the sheet again._

 _With that, he reached over the desk again, this time rooting around in the pen cup Benji kept handy. He settled on a pink highlighter and drew a big pink heart around the Saturday that would now officially become their anniversary._

 _She growled in place of approval._

" _Looks like we've got time for coffee after all, Carrots," he said placing the sheet face down back in its previous spot on Clawhauser's desk._

" _Fine...," the rabbit cop muttered heading to the break room._

 _Her thoughts began swirling._

 _First, how dare everyone bet on their private lives like a game. There were some evil eyes and cold shoulders coming in the near future to her colleagues._

 _More importantly, if everyone knew... or thought they knew, how would that reflect on them as partners? If their relationship was causing this much unprofessionalism in the station, Bogo would have no choice but to break them up. She knew that was a possibility going in and they both accepted it, but she had really firmly believed they would be allowed to remain partners. But now...?_

"Hopps, Wilde," the cape buffalo said hardly looking up from the last of the day's case files. With all the other officers having left or leaving, he walked over to Nick and Judy's table to hand off the case file.

"You're heading to a place called the Kitt Katt Klub in Savanna Central. Apparent vandalism and inflammatory graffiti. Take a look around, get statements, then hand over your findings to Detective Capshaw. She's working a string of similar incidents. Dismissed."

The rabbit, knowing this was the spot she should speak up, cowered and opened the case file. She was actually ecstatic to push off the conversation she had so thoughtfully argued they needed to have with their boss.

 _We can tell him tomorrow. Or never. Never sounds great. We're never gonna tell him,_ her mind raced. She could already feel the falsely-earned relief coursing through her veins. What could go...

"Hey-a, Chief!" Nick called out smoothly.

Audible groans emanated from the smallest and the largest animals left in the room.

 _So close, yet..._ Bogo thought as he looked at the door he was just two steps from.

"Officer ' _Hopps'_ and I need to have a quick moment of your time," the fox said with an almost sarcastic emphasis on his partners soon to be maiden name. For her part, Judy put on a professional brave face.

"Is it life or death?" the chief grumbled over his shoulder.

"In a grand philosophical way...? Yes," the fox replied.

"Hopps...?" Bogo groaned knowing he shouldn't have expected a straight answer from his fox officer.

Judy had to shiver herself straight before answering.

"Yes, sir. It's critically important," she managed to say without her voice cracking.

Chief Bogo heaved his massive chest with a deep breath before letting it slowly fall back down. He tried to gather himself to speak before...

"Judy! Nick! Is it truooooooo," Clawhauser exclaimed bursting through door with the betting sheet in hand. His last syllable rolled off into an 'oh, crap' as he almost ran into the chief in his haste.

Bogo snorted as he took the sheet from his desk officer and put up his glasses to read it. The rabbit and cheetah each tried to purse their lips so hard that their short snouts might collapse inward. The fox was more interested in cleaning his claws. A swift swat from his mate brought him to attention.

All eyes were on Zootopia's top cop as he came to understand what he was holding in his hooves. The ensuing bellow of displeasure seemed to channel the depths of Hell itself.

"All three of you! My office! NOW!"

* * *

"Two-thousand three hundred fifty-three dollars and fifty-nine cents," Clawhauser said meekly.

Bogo scowled audibly.

Judy gasped.

Nick whistled.

"Wait, who made the bet with the fifty-nine cents?" Nick asked haphazardly.

A mighty pound of Bogo's fist on his desk shook everything in the room. The buffalo leaned back growling like a predator.

"Well," he began with heavy emphasis on every syllable in the surest sign a mammal was enraged but still trying to remain coherent. "It appears the entire precinct has chipped in to make a sizable spur-of-the-moment donation to the Police and Fire Orphans Fund."

The cheetah, who was standing at attention with his gut sucked so far in he actually looked like an entirely different cat, gulped as the chief drilled a hole through him with his glare.

"I want the funds on my desk the instant I'm done with Hopps and Wilde. Dismissed."

"Yessir," Benjamin squeaked before stumbling as fast as he could out the door.

Bogo tapped one of his hooves waiting for the door to close completely before slowly and torturously turning his withering glare back to the rabbit and fox sharing the massive chair across from his desk.

"My apologies," the bull began. Eyebrows shot up in confusion on both mammals he was addressing. "That sort of thing borders on harassment and has no place here. This is a precinct not a Love Boat. I will make sure everyone gets a firm talking to. Now, what did you two want to talk to me about?"

The pair shared a look both having it dawn on them that their boss hadn't made the connection yet. Judy braved moving as she went for a slip of paper she had folded behind her back.

She abruptly stopped when the chief let out a chuckle.

"I mean, my officers betting on you _two...? Romantically? Ha!_ " the last laugh came out as a snort.

The fox and the rabbit shared the laugh. The rabbit's was far more nervous than the fox's. Judy looked to Nick for any sign of how to proceed. She wished he wasn't being so cool—especially after he nodded his head towards the chief indicating she should finish handing the paper over to him.

She took a deep breath and stretched the paper towards Bogo as far as she could. The cape buffalo obviously had to stretch over his desk to take it. He was still mildly amused. As he sat back down, he once again produced his glasses and unfolded the paper.

It was a form.

It was an official ZPD form.

The chief's rare smirk winked out of existence replaced by a cold distant face of stone.

His right ear twitched.

Then twitched again.

And again.

Nick looked for and found Old Faithful—the vein that ran over Chief Bogo's left eye. It was bulging as expected whenever their boss received bad news.

The hulking mass of a bull looked up from the form at his two smallest officers. Judy had a fearful smile on her face. The fox wore his usual look that the chief wished he could throttle of his face—but then when didn't the fox have that look and when didn't the chief want to throttle him?

He looked back at the form. Across the top in big bold bureaucratic lettering was the form's title:

 _ **DECLARATION OF OFF-DUTY RELATIONSHIP**_

Below that were the usual information boxes:

 _Name (Officer One): Nicholas Piberious Wilde / M / Fox / Badge#: 078651_

 _Name (Officer Two): Judith Laverne W Hopps Wilde / F / Rabbit / Badge#: 078554_

The chief lingered on Judy's line. Where her last name should have been written, a crossed out 'w' was followed by a crossed out 'Hopps'. But her last name _was_ 'Hopps'. So, why had she written Wilde? Why had she struggled with it?

Below that was a box asking to declare the nature of the relationship. The options were dating, engaged, married, domestic partnership, mating season arrangement, life-mates, and other.

'Life-mates' was the box that was checked.

The rest of the form blurred from the buffalo's vision. His ear was still twitching.

"We weren't sure if we should check 'married' yet since we haven't gotten a chance to go to the courthouse yet," he heard the fox rattle off.

The bull leveled his look at the two officers. Their expressions hadn't changed.

The corner of his mouth twitched. Then his other ear twitched.

Judy and Nick heard what had to have been the first part of a giggle. Then, a few more obvious—and disturbingly high pitched—giggles tumbled out of the chief.

What happened next was sure to go down in Zootopia Police legend—had any other mammal been there to witness it.

Chief Bogo laughed.

He laughed loudly and with abandon. In fact, maybe there would be witnesses down the hall he was laughing so forcefully. Judy was beginning to wonder if maybe every laugh the chief had suppressed in his lifetime was now erupting from his snout. She and Nick had no other choice but to laugh with him, but they certainly didn't see the humor in the situation.

It went on for ten seconds..., twenty seconds..., before finally sometime after forty seconds, the cape buffalo began to compose himself.

He was wiping tears from eyes before he finally, still chuckling here and there, spoke.

"Wilde, you've pulled some all-time pranks in your short time here...," he began.

"Not a prank, sir," Nick said forcing positivity into his words rather than offense. The chief ignored him.

"...but this one takes the cake! You and Hopps? You'd have me believe that she would... I mean, if you checked 'dating', you'd really have me going. Hell! I'd maybe even fallen for you doing one of those temporary 'mating season arrangements', but life-mates? On your way to the courthouse to get married? You flew too close too the Sun on that one, I'm afraid. Getting Clawhauser in on it was a nice touch, though"

Chief Bogo had leaned back in his chair looking nearly relaxed. He waited for Wilde's concession that he had tried to pull one over on the former detective. He kept waiting and wondering why the rabbit seemed especially flustered. She spoke and revealed why.

"I'm sorry, sir, but this is not a prank. We really have...," Judy started before being interrupted.

"Please, enough Hopps. You've had your...," the chief began before it was his turn to be cut off.

" _ **It's going to be Wilde from now on, sir!**_ " the rabbit finally snapped. The room was brought into an icy silence.

Whether it was her mate's somewhat devil-may-care attitude at the moment, the discovery of the betting pool, her own worried thoughts that piled up after they had to wait to speak to the chief, or the chief's infuriating response, Judy Hopps Wilde had had enough.

She was standing aggressively on the edge of the chair she shared with her partner. Her tiny fists made into balls of rage. No mammal ever stared down the chief. But the rabbit wasn't just any mammal.

The groans of his massive chair and the even the sound of the fabric of his uniform as he moved forward filled the void like ice calving from a glacier. However, his look didn't change from laughter to anger but rather to unabashed shock and disbelief.

"Are you... serious? This isn't a joke?" he spoke in softer than anyone would believe if being told.

"Yes, sir," Judy said bringing herself into a more respectful tone and posture towards her superior. Nick realized he should stand as well and braced himself just off to Judy's left.

Their hulking mass of a chief endured a couple more ear twitches. His eyes blinked rapidly. He was at a loss for words. He could only manage, "How?"

In Judy's mind, the mammal responsible for her well-prepared speech managed to trip and fall on her way to delivering it to the podium in her head. She could only watch in horror as Nick stepped forward and began to open his mouth.

"You see, Chief, when a fox loves a bunny...,"

 _That_ did it. Bogo slammed his desk again. His rage restored. He shot a look that could strip paint at the fox.

"If this is _**not**_ one of your little jokes carried far _far_ beyond my patience," the chief thundered. "If you really are being serious, then let me be the first one to use this phrase: shut up, and _let your better half do the talking_."

Nick snapped his snout shut, took a step back, and flashed Judy a 'he's all yours' look. She was _totally_ going to have a talk with him if they survived this—after like a week or two of stoney silence.

"How... did this happen?" Bogo asked pointedly returning his gaze to his rabbit officer.

The speech was finally delivered to the podium in her mind, but it was tattered and ripped. She'd have to do a little ad-libbing.

"Well," she began with nothing but false bravado. "First...,"

She was already faltering. This was going to be a disaster. A thousand nightmares involving parked cars, meters, and red ticket envelops twisted through her skull. There were even a couple where she and Nick were transferred to the city's sanitation department. She was crashing and burning.

And then a large, padded paw wrapped around hers. She looked over and saw her partner and mate giving her an earnest look of support. And there was no shortage of 'apology' sprinkled in as well.

 _Finally,_ she thought. Her fox was good for something. A deep breath and a steely resolve followed.

" _ **We**_ want to make it clear that we have never done anything inappropriate while on-duty or otherwise engaged on behalf of the department. Everything of a romantic nature happened off the clock and away from the ZPD. Nor have we worked a shift yet since we made our feelings known to each other nor since we acted on them."

Bogo shifted back to shock as the rabbit seemed to pause for questioning.

"Are you telling me that you two decided to become mates _over the weekend?_ "

"Yes, sir."

"And you weren't dating before hand?"

"Correct, sir."

A pause threatened to take over the room before a stunned chief of police shook his head.

"Then, please, continue," he said dumbfounded.

"Over the weekend, a series of circumstances arose that made us realize that our relationship was at a turning point. That the friendship and partnership we had built was in fact much more than realized. And that the amount of support and emotional connectivity between us would never be replaceable by another mammal. That we were, in essence, already committed to each other in a deep and lasting way. Therefore, we acted to express and make permanent those feelings. And at our first opportunity, we sought to inform the department. The department has not been exposed to any liability because of our change in relationship."

Nick had to admire his bunny's choice of words. Perhaps those lessons in lying were at least paying some dividends. She wasn't lying at all though, he knew. She was just very carefully picking words and phrases that indicated they were madly in love with each without actually using the word 'love' or any other word or phrase that could skew their working relationship prior to the weekend as inappropriate.

"That part is not for you to decide, Hop- Wi-, _officer,_ " Bogo corrected.

The chief was now looking more contemplative—it was a stern contemplation that was accompanied by slow deep breaths. There was another silence that didn't last as long as it could have.

"What my _better half_ here is trying to say...," Nick began. He could feel his mate tense up without even looking at her. He put every ounce of effort into making his following words sincere. "...nothing has really changed. What made us work as friends and partners is the same thing that... Well, it's a continuation of what was already there before."

He felt his paw being squeezed. He dared a look at his partner and got an eyeful of 'keep going'.

"Officer H-, Judy was trying not to say the word 'love', but I can't think of any other word. We love each other—in that so bad it hurts kind of way. In that we'll do whatever it takes to support the other kind of way. In that take a thousand bullets kind of way. And _that's_ what's made us the team we are today, sir. That's what's made us work. And what will make us continue to work."

Nick looked to his partner for approval and got it. Judy let a beam of admiration and love escape her face in the direction of her mate. Oh, he was still in trouble. But maybe just a night of sleeping on the couch 'trouble'.

"So, what am I to do here?"

Their boss's question was stern and probing and ended their ever so brief love-fest. Judy gathered herself.

"Give us a chance to prove that we can handle this. That nothing really has changed. That we will come in here with the same attitude and dedication towards our jobs and each other as we have before..."

"Not good enough," Bogo swatted her plea aside.

Despite everything that had transpired in the conversation thus far, this was the first moment that the rabbit and the fox actually felt the full gravity of the situation. The very real possibility that they may no longer be partners was only a few words away.

The cape buffalo didn't remember _when_ he knew this day would come, but he had ignored the idea for much longer than he should have. There were so many moments he should have put his hoof down—like when she pleaded for the fox's job application to be accepted. Or when she pleaded for him to be her partner. Or when they moved in together.

Bogo had ample time and opportunity to slow the rabbit/fox love train down, but he hadn't. Maybe he was going soft. Maybe he was a hopeless romantic at heart. Maybe the rabbit was actually a voodoo witch doctor manipulating his every decision. He didn't know for sure, but what he did know was that he could really use a drink right about then. His thoughts turned to the counter to his left where he knew he had a drink set and very expensive bottle of Scotch given to him by former Mayor Lionheart.

But it was nine in the morning and he was the chief of police and he had other work to do that didn't involve crumbling once again to the rabbit's indomitable will.

"First, I've been married for twenty-five years," the chief started with measured words. " _Everything changes_ when you commit your life to another."

The rabbit and fox turned slightly to each other. They hadn't expected to hear that truth. Especially not from Bogo of all mammals.

"Second, you can't expect to walk in here business as usual. You two just put yourselves under the biggest microscope in the world. I am loath to say it but you two are my best officers but that's not going to cut it. You're now going to have to do even better..."

Bogo let the his words sink in.

"Your performance and behavior is going to have to be flawless because everyone in the city will have their eyes on you when this gets out. One slip up and I'll have your asses in the same vice that the mayor will have mine. Am I being clear?"

The smiles were damn near impossible to keep of the faces of the two small officers but they managed curt nods and each a "Yes, sir," in unison. They both needed to hear him say the words but they knew they were in the clear.

Chief Bogo grabbed a pen and returned to the form on his desk. He checked a box and scribbled a date and a signature. With a huff, he extended the form back towards Judy.

"Thank you, sir. You won't regret this," the rabbit said reaching to take it from him. Before she could, though, her boss pulled the form back.

"Conditions," he said flatly. Judy pulled back towards her partner and they both braced themselves.

"No slip ups. No complaints from the public or from you—especially about what I assign you. You two are to be text-book model officers. You will make arrangements to complete the off-duty fraternization workshop with mammal resources and it will be done on _your_ time not mine. When this department needs you, you will do what is asked. No PDA's in uniform or in this station or on patrol. And if I get so much as a hint that personal issues between you are affecting your judgement, you'll be with new partners in a heartbeat."

He was almost snorting as he re-extended the form to the couple. This time Nick reached out and grabbed it to save Judy the trouble.

"Turn that into mammal resources and get your tails out in the field. Dismissed," Bogo added.

The rabbit and fox officers scrambled down for the chair and practically scurried for the door. Nick made the jump to pull the handle and opened it.

"One more thing."

They froze and cringed as they turned back to the chief. He didn't look up at them favoring a case file on his desk.

"Best of luck to the happy couple," he said as if his mom was forcing him to make an apology when he was a young calf.

When he heard the door close, he slumped back in the chair and pinched a fingered hoof to his face.

He _was_ going soft.

After a moment of decompression, he realized he needed to update the mayor about the city's media darlings and he knew _exactly_ how the mayor would react.

He was going to need that drink first.

* * *

Judy and Nick walked in somewhat shocked, somewhat relieved silence towards mammal resources. However, the fox was stupid—okay, he wasn't completely stupid. He knew he'd screwed up in there at some point. He just didn't exactly know how. He'd just been himself. What else could he...

 _Ohhhhh, crap,_ the fox thought. _I was exactly 'myself'._

The wrong self. The 'Never Let Them See That They Get to You' self. Judy needed his confidence. She got his cockiness instead. Sure, he'd come through at crunch time in their conversation with Bogo, but he realized too late that he didn't do much to help make it go smoother. They had just won a huge professional and personal victory but they couldn't enjoy it because of his stupid fox face.

He kept himself just a half-step behind his partner. He could see enough of her face that she was wearing some sort of satisfied look, but he knew that was a mask. He wanted nothing more than to grab her, get down on his knees, and apologize.

However, they'd just been warned _not_ to let their personal issues interfere on the job.

He had to settle for his own fake grin and hope that a moment of privacy presented itself sooner rather than later.

They snuck in and out of mammal resources as fast as they could. They didn't have time to wait on Cynthia, the sloth at the department's front window, to give them a reaction to the Off-Duty Relationship form they handed her. Though they both knew, by the end of the day when they returned to the station, word would officially be out.

By the time they made it to their cruiser, Nick couldn't stomach it any more. Once they were strapped in and Judy had turned the ignition, he knew this was as private as they were going to get.

"I'm sorry," he blurted.

The silence pulverized him.

"I should have more serious in there...," he trailed off.

Judy shut their patrol car off. She was listening.

"...but I was a nervous wreck and when I'm a nervous wreck... well, old habits die hard."

The rabbit exhaled a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

 _Of course that's what he'd do,_ she scolded herself. She had gotten so used to him dropping his mask for her that she forgot he wasn't yet to the point where he could drop it for others.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and looked around. She couldn't see or hear anybody in the motor pool so, she moved over to Nick's side of the seat.

"You dumb, stupid fox," she said pulling him into a hug.

"'I forgive you' is what normal mammals say," he said with relief as he returned the hug.

"Who are we talking about again?" she asked playfully.

Nick scoffed but otherwise remained wrapped around his mate. She broke the hug before either of them really wanted to.

"I'm sorry too," Judy said drawing a slight look of confusion from her partner. "There should have been more of a plan than 'let's tell Bogo'. He's right. I can't just... we can't just act as though it's business as usual on the job. I should have had us better prepared."

"So, everything has changed?" Nick asked delicately.

"Not everything," Judy was quick to reply. "But we are going to have to be more careful about how we interact on the job. And if it's something of importance to both our job and our relationship, we absolutely have to talk about it first and present a united front. We can't afford to be out of sync."

"I hear you loud and clear, Carrots," he replied with a relieved smile. "Just sucks that we can't be as flirty as we were when we _weren't_ mates."

"True," the rabbit replied getting back into the driver's seat. She looked back at him in with a look that instantly made him go flush. "But we can make up for that when we get home everyday."

She fired up the engine once more and threw the car into gear. Her partner gave her a devilish smile the whole time before cooly donning his signature aviator shades.

"So, read out that case file. We've got work to do," Judy said enthusiastically as she turned their massive cruiser onto the street.


	12. Nick & Judy Do Some Actual Police Work

**A/N:** Thanks to Irual,JuGgUlAtOr413, Wolf Guard Miestwin, Bandblade, Matri, bagnome, GunBuilder, ktrk5, Acestin, octopod, .2015, Jpezcandy, Danny-171984, Zootopian Fulf, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps, zenith88, Makokam, snoopykid, Cosmic Bond, Ngrasta, Wonderful, Pyrophoricity, sky the muffin man, PullTogether, Vaultbo111, pretty-ok, Saurichiban1, Starfang's Secrets, Thanash, Overcast, Redmanjc, Ugh, rewind gone nuts, phantomreader42, boomballing56, Thomas Linquist, and various guests who read and left reviews! Responses coming soon!

 **BUT FIRST!**

 **Do me a huge favor and before you read this chapter, go check out King In Yellow's fic, _Who Do You Trust?_ and leave a review!**

It is a wonderful story with great prose, spot on characters, and a delightfully clever slow burn romance. You won't regret it!

Now, as usual, apologies for spelling and grammar. I really need a beta I think. Also, this chapter was delayed because I actually work creative in film and video and had a particularly busy month or so and all my creative juices went to pay the bills. The next couple months look much more normal so I don't think there are more delays upcoming. Also! I'll be rolling a new story soon! It's big and sweeping and epic and I can't wait to share it! But don't worry, I'll be finishing this story _first._ Enjoy!

* * *

 **Rules Were Meant to Be Broken**

 **Chapter 11 – Nick & Judy Do Some Police Work**

 **by Ultimate Naco Topping**

* * *

The case file didn't lend a clue as to why the Kitt Katt Klub had been vandalized or point to who did it. The club sat in the heart of a slowly gentrifying neighborhood in Savana Central. There was much blight in the area but signs of turnaround were nervously emerging. Hornster-style coffee/vinyl record shops seemed to be growing like weeds. There was a back-to-basics brewery. Vintage goods stores were replacing the area's thrift shops but one would be hard pressed to notice a difference in the merchandise.

Young artists of several different species had taken over many of the multi-unit homes—each seemingly a collective of creativity and youthful-malaise. The long time residents of the area were frequently off-put by the newer generation that had been moving in along side them. They dressed like they had bought their clothes at a thrift... er, vintage clothing store. They wore glasses they didn't need and had their phones surgically glued to their paws or hooves. The older folks lamented that their favorite local establishments with reliable service from mammals they'd known all their lives were being replaced by boutiques with questionable chances at profitability and run by children who acted like they needed just five minutes of attention from their parents.

Such was the neighborhood of Acacia in modern Zootopia. One of it's oldest neighborhoods was experiencing its third of fourth major transition. Acacia was _the_ original suburb to the mighty city of mammals long before the extended Burrows took up the mantel. The enclave was a preferred place for upper class mammals to move to at the start of the previous century. Away from the hustle and bustle of the rapidly growing Zootopia, Acacia was where the well-to-do came to raise their families. Many of the buildings still had their original look but far too many wonderful buildings had been razed or modified over the years.

After the Second World War, the middle class had begun to fill the homes and businesses of the suburb. These new mammals were reaching for the dream of being well-off and comfortable. Their predecessors had moved off even further to mansions with gates and private security. For the second wave though, life couldn't be better. They'd made it. Their Acacia address proved it.

By the late 70's, however, the once proud neighborhood had been hit as hard by economic and social upheaval as much of the rest of Zootopia and the country. Mammals were moving out of the classic homes but nobody was moving in because _who could afford them_? The area businesses didn't last long and suddenly the neighborhood every mammal wanted to live in became one of the places you didn't go at night. The Savana Central district had, by this time, engulfed Acacia. Without a growing tax base, the enclave was annexed and officially added to Zootopia proper.

Those difficult times eventually brought with them a new class of mammal—down on their luck predators seeking escape from the pressures the great city had burdened them with. Crime and economic stagnation had to be blamed on someone and many prey, after years of rather peaceful cohabitation with their sharper toothed fellow citizens, quietly began blaming predators.

Tensions rose as an obvious consequence.

It became far too easy for the old ZPD to sweep through Acacia and round up predators (and a few prey) to pad arrest statistics and show they were doing their part to answer the rising crime stats. Despite the uptick in arrest numbers, things worsened—or perhaps they worsened _because_ of the increase in arrests. Tensions were bubbling over in the city to the point were the idea of TAME collars were openly discussed without the morally required disgust.

A proposal was getting more signatures than decent mammals thought possible to put the idea to a city referendum. That was until a scandal embroiled City Hall, the ZPD, and several all-too-cozy defense and weapons companies. An anonymous source that clearly was a Zootopia police officer leaked documents and memos to a brash but idealistic journalist. The determined hedgehog rammed the story down her editor's throat (who was ironically a ram) and began to expose a small cabal of politicians, business owners, and ZPD brass attempting to aide efforts to get the TAME initiative on the ballot and more importantly passed.

The increase in predator arrests was deliberate along with the narrative that options were becoming scarce within the current social framework. Once documents showed that no-bid contracts were already on the table for TAME collars by a pair of businesses run by friends of the Zootopian political class, heads finally began to roll.

No historian would suggest that tensions eased as the last of the guilty parties were removed from office or ZPD command. They were simply buried under the surface. Predators always keeping a wary eye on their prey counter-parts. Prey didn't really want to acknowledge how close they'd come to voting for a flagrant violation of mammal rights.

The Zootopian dream wasn't dead, but it was limping along repaired with little more than duct tape and quiet shame.

By the dawn of the new century, Acacia had stabilized at best as a run-down neighborhood. Predators were still in abundance, but low-income prey had also moved in. The story behind many of the buildings and the street names were known to no one—the fading facades taking those details with them. The once proud enclave was certain to blend in with the rest of Zootopia until the new century's first economic downturn forced young mammals to get creative with their lifestyle and employment prospects. Young mammals were flocking to Acacia to start their lives where the rent was cheap both for housing and for storefronts.

And so Acacia was being reborn—perhaps not with the dignity that its history had earned it, but a revival was a revival.

Through it all, though, was one institution that never seemed to go away. Forgotten and neglected now and then, but never gone. The Kitt Katt Klub, like so many of its Prohibition Era counterparts, started off as an illegal booze and gambling operation. At its height, the club was every bit the place to go as Wilde Times. Once liquor became legal again, the ownership opted for making the place a simple bar and dance club.

The building was a beautiful sleek Art Deco design. A slight off-white exterior with an aluminum awning curving off the front. Glass blocks were used in place of windows. Inside, the club featured deep reds and ornate golds and a massive bar capable of servicing every type of animal in the city. A sunken pit attached to a stage was obviously the main dance floor for the largest animals. Three other ever smaller dance floors terraced out into the main dance floor accommodating the other sized animals of Zootopia. In theory, an elephant would be able to share a dance with a mouse.

The club had changed many paws over the years including paws connected with the mafia. The club followed the ups and downs of the city but at a slower pace. There always seemed to be enough of a spark—enough of a memory—to draw animals in to enjoy a night out or forget about life for a time within its walls.

Client regimes followed ownership changes. Prey and predator swapping dominance over the establishment a dozen times in the now century old establishment. The current state of the club was nowhere near its original condition, but nostalgia covered most of its bumps and bruises and wrinkles. The clubs current clientele were actually one of its most stable in its history—nearly twenty years of patronage.

Officer Nick Wilde knew exactly who those clients were from the spray paint angrily scrawled across the front face of the building.

The case file neglected to mention the specifics. Rather, what he read aloud to Judy only mentioned vandalism and threatening graffiti. Also, were a list of incidences and arrests spanning the last five years. _An odd inclusion,_ thought both the rabbit and fox officers. There was a noticeable uptick in minor drug offenses, drunk-and-disorderlies, thefts, and simple assaults in the last six months.

Nick arrived at the front of the cruiser at the same time as Judy. She was taking it in for the first time, fully alert and nose twitching. Nick had a decent idea of what had happened and had seen this before so, he opted for watching the rabbit's reaction instead.

"Stripe with stripe," she read the graffiti aloud with just a bit of confusion. "Spot with spot?"

The rabbit looked to the fox and met his eyes. There were times when her inner 'farm girl' showed that he found it completely adorable, but there were rare times when it wasn't. _This_ was one of those times. Nick _hated_ being the one to shatter any part of her innocence. Part of it was guilt from their late-afternoon conversation the first day they met, but most of it was because he took comfort in her optimistic outlook on everything.

He sighed.

"Whoever did this doesn't like mammals like us," he winced as he said it.

"Like us?" Judy asked still not following.

"Interspecies couples."

Nick broke a little on the inside as he watched her face shift from confusion to disbelief to something bordering grief. He remained anchored in place as she looked to the ground. Slowly, she balled her paws into fists and brought her look back to him. This time, her jaw was set and her eyes were bordering on fury. She abruptly turned towards the club and began to march towards the entrance. The fox fell in a couple paces behind.

The front doors to the club had been knocked off their hinges and laid to either side of the entrance. Both officers took note of the additional graffiti that lined entryway.

'Sickos', 'Freaks', 'Perverts', and 'Pred/Prey Chasers' were among the 'highlights'.

Nick continued to pay more attention to Judy than the damage. His outer mask was firmly in place but on the inside, every scowl he saw from his mate pounded him. His ire was reserved for the mammals that did this and he didn't really care that he was taking this personally.

"Looks like a stampede went through here," Judy observed as they made it to the main floor.

She wasn't far off. Most of the tables and chairs along the main corridor were smashed or tossed aside. The smell of alcohol was overwhelming. One look at the bar indicated why. What should have been shelf after shelf of bottled libations were nearly empty. A few broken bottles remained but the rest were on the floor behind the bar with their contents spilled.

"I think that's exactly what happened," the fox said flatly.

A few employees were setting about cleaning up the destruction. A couple others were taking pictures. They all had a certain air of disbelief. An older elk noticed the fox and the rabbit and made her was over to the pair.

"Officer Hopps..," Judy began introducing herself out of pure habit. She paused as her eyes darted to Nick. She was technically still Officer Hopps but didn't know what he'd think that she'd already forgotten the unofficial name change. She caught him smirking and decided to press forward. "...and this is Officer Wilde. We're here to investigate. We're very sorry this happened. This looks bad."

The elk extended her hoof and shook both their paws.

"Just glad they didn't burn the place down. I was hoping they'd send you two," she tried to smile through the statement but it was tired and lacked any relief. "I'm Candice Cervine. I'm the owner."

Judy had already fished out her notebook and new carrot pen—which brought a very brief smile to her face despite the situation.

"Are you the one who called us?" Nick asked.

"Yes," Candice replied. "Can I get you two officers anything? Water?"

"No, thank you," Judy answered for them. "What can you tell us about what happened?"

The elk sighed and waved her arm weakly at the mess.

"I came in early around seven this morning to do inventory and found the place trashed."

"So, there isn't an alarm installed?" the rabbit asked.

"There is, but when I got here, it was deactivated."

The two officers shared a glance at each other.

"Was it not set last night?" Nick asked.

"I talked to our head bartender, Marty, this morning. He was the last one out and he swears he set it."

"How many mammals have the code?"

"Besides myself and Marty? Three."

"We'll need to talk to each of them later," Judy said without looking up from her note taking. "Any former disgruntled employees who might have the code?"

"No one I'm aware of. We change the code if someone who knows it leaves and it's been a couple years since that happened. We have a very loyal staff."

 _Apparently not,_ the fox thought.

"Have there been any threats against the club, staff, or guests?" Judy asked shifting gears.

"None more than the usual if you're referring to us being an interspecies establishment."

"We'd still like a summary of those if you can get them to us. Just in case," the rabbit added. "Our case file included recent increases in drug related activity. Were there any issues..."

"We run a clean club. No tolerance for users. The thing is, our clients don't buy what the sellers offer. The drug dealers seemed to use our parking lot because we hardly ever see any police presence. We asked the ZPD to add a patrol or two but never got a real response. We had to hire additional private security but it only made a small dent."

Nick stifled a growl. Sending a patrol through a couple times a night would be more than enough to ward off most drug dealers. It was simple and cost effective. There would be no logical reason to fail to do it. Especially if officers would have to respond to later incidents involving the club because the dealers had been allowed to operate freely.

He noticed Judy's brow had furrowed at the owner's statement. Undoubtedly, she was troubled by this as well.

"What about security cameras?" Judy asked.

"Have them," Candice groaned. "But they got to the security office and smashed everything."

"We're in traffic cam dead zone to boot," Nick griped.

"So, they knew the alarm code, allegedly, and they knew where the security camera footage was," the rabbit said tapping her pen to her notebook.

"Inside job?" Nick asked rhetorically.

"No, I can't think of anyone on staff that would...," the elk answered anyway before trailing off.

"You said you didn't have anyone leave recently. Any new hires?" Nick asked.

"A couple and I mean literally," the general manager began. "A polar bear and an impala. Hired them about a month ago both as cocktails staff."

Nick's eyebrow shot up. Typically, interspecies couples remained fairly close in relative size and historical geography. Polar bears and impalas were neither of those things.

"How many employees do you have? We may have to talk with all of them," Judy continued.

"About twenty. I'll get you a list with all their information before you go, but...," the elk trailed off again.

"Something wrong?" the rabbit asked sensing a bit of hesitation from their witness.

"I don't know what good solving this whole thing will do. I've... I've got a very generous offer to sell. They seemed to know they were offering much more than the place is worth."

Judy and Nick instantly shared a look.

"About how long ago was that...?" Nick asked trying not to sound like he was too suspicious. He decided to tack on, "If you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all," the elk began a bit of the stressful situation starting to lift from her. As if, in this moment, she was starting to let go of the club in consideration of the offer and the officers interviewing her became the proverbial wall to bounce the idea off of. "About a month ago, a lawyer walked in, well, rolled in, on one of those two-wheeled Mouse Movers..."

"Let me guess," Nick interrupted. "He was a mouse."

Judy stopped herself from punching her partner. She rolled her eyes though.

"Yes, _she_ was," Candice added with a hint of feminist freedom in her voice. "Didn't take more than thirty seconds. Just told me her client was interested in purchasing and if I ever was interested in selling, call her back. She handed me a folder with the offer sheet and didn't wait for me to ask any questions."

There was silence between the trio as Judy hammered away at her notepad.

"You don't think that it's relevant, do you?" the elk asked.

"Everything is relevant at this stage," the fox stated matter-of-factly.

"But if I decide to sell, you won't have to keep investigating, though, right?"

Nick opened his mouth but Judy beat him to the punch.

"Actually, this qualifies as a hate crime and one of our detectives is working a few similar cases, so we'll be conducting a thorough investigation regardless if your case is connected to others or not. After Bellweather, there is a point of emphasis from City Hall."

Nick eyed his partner and immediately saw the warning signs. Unless you knew her, she looked and sounded professional. But he knew her. And the crime scene and the targets were getting to her. He knew the instant the warmth left her voice.

"Well, I suppose you two would know best on that front," the elk smiled for real for the first time in the conversation.

"Thank you for your time, Ms. Cervine," Judy stated offering her paw to shake. The combination paw and hoof shakes commenced between the three animals. "We'll document the damage and we'd like to talk to the staff that is here already. If you could provide us with the list of others, we'd appreciate it."

"Thank you, officers. I will."

Candice excused herself and the rabbit and fox set about cataloging the extensive damage. Each spray-painted slur and each swath of destruction were photographed for the report. Talking with the three mammal employees who had turned up yielded no further clues.

The club owner returned with the list of other employees and a copy of the offer sheet if she was inclined to sell. Nick noticed the offer was from MultiCorp Real Estate Holding, LLC. He smirked to himself as he'd had dealings with them before. Specifically, they were the previous owners of his warehouse apartment. He decided to tell Judy of the coincidence later and added the papers to the case file.

It was approaching lunchtime when the rabbit and the fox hopped into their cruiser.

Normally, banter would commence after most crime scenes unless they responded to something tragic or violent. Nick sensed his mate had taken a mood similar to those types of calls and opted for a bit of silence as Judy pulled the cruiser away from the club. Instead, he fished out the small lunch cooler she had prepared for them and went about dispensing their lunch. They had an errand to run in lieu of their lunch break and, ever the preparer, the rabbit had packed them quick lunch.

They ate quietly and if anyone they knew had been there, they would have been gravely concerned. Nick and Judy were never ever quiet around each other. Of course, they were, but mainly in more private moments such as this.

They were half-way back to the station when they finished lunch and Nick was tired of not talking.

"Want to talk about it?" he offered.

He watched her set her jaw and grip the steering wheel tighter.

"I want to hit all the mammals who did that in the face."

 _Yes. She definitely needs to talk about it._

"So, I think I'll handle the arrests if it gets that far," Nick deadpanned.

"Why is there still so much... _hate?!"_ the rabbit asked knowing there was no answer that could be satisfactory.

He reached a paw out to her shoulder and as soon as he touched her, she spoke.

"And don't tell me 'never let them see...'," she blurted.

For his part, Nick didn't remove his paw but shifted to give her an honestly open look.

"You have every right to be upset," he began cautiously. "I wish I could tell you how to feel about it, but I can't."

"I'm angry. Why aren't you angry?" Judy snapped a little harder than she wanted.

To his credit, the fox knew she wasn't upset with him. He just shrugged it off.

"I'm upset that you're upset, but I've been on the receiving end for most of my life so it doesn't get to me."

"So, you don't care that there are mammals who hate the fact that you're in love with a bunny?"

"Did you care that there were mammals that thought a bunny couldn't be a cop?"

The bunny in question paused before drawing a breath to speak but she didn't get the chance.

"And if you think it's different, it's not. Animals fear the unknown. Sometimes they reject the idea like what would happen if a bunny did become a cop. And sometimes they lash out at what would happen if a zebra loved a lion. At the end of the day, they're all covering their own tails trying to shield themselves from the implications for their own lives. If a bunny is brave enough to make it through basic training and be a cop, then they might have to look at themselves and answer why they haven't dared to try for their dreams.

"Or if a zebra can love a lion, then maybe they could love a mammal that wasn't their species. Point is, mammals don't like things that make them confront their own shortcomings, especially if that means breaking from the herd or the pack..."

"Or the burrow..."

"Or the burrow," he repeated. "Look, at the end of the day, it sucks. You know I know that. And the old me would have just ignored it as always. But then I met that bunny cop that was all over the news. She's a total cutey, by the way, and now look at me: traversing the unknowns of being the first fox cop and trying to make the world a better place."

His partner was shooting him a sideways look of irritation at the 'cutey' line, but as usual, she couldn't condemn him because he was being so damn sincere.

"So, in a round about why, I guess I'm still saying 'never let them see that they get to you' but in a completely different way. We're still going to meet mammals who don't like that you're a rabbit cop or that I'm a fox for the sake of being fox or that we're together as mates. But getting angry with them won't prove them wrong. You can't beat them—and I mean literally like you were suggesting. You only win by not letting them bring you down."

Judy began parking the cruiser as they had arrived back at the station. She killed the engine and turned to her softly smiling partner. She had to soften her face because he had a point.

"I understand what you're saying. I just wish we didn't have to deal with it."

"Dealing with it is sort of our job, in case you've forgotten," the fox added with a smirk.

The rabbit's shoulder's lost the tension she was holding as the fox next to her reminded her of that fact that had temporarily eluded her. She returned his smirk with smile that did far more to say 'thanks' than actually saying thanks.

"Then, let's get the case file updated and dropped off to Capshaw and hit the courthouse on break," she finally said.

* * *

Every time Judy entered detective squad offices she got a tingling sensation. She loved being a patrol officer. She loved walking or driving her beat. And that's what she really always wanted. Until she and Nick cracked the Nighthowler case and the thrill of solving the puzzle made her realize that she really wanted to be a detective.

Before Nick made it out of the Academy, she had made an effort to get to know the detectives on a first name basis. She kept tabs on retirement or promotion rumors. And she made it known she was always willing to help out with a case—with the Chief's approval, of course. The squad threw her the occasional bone when they needed something where her smaller size was an asset.

Otherwise, her interactions with the detective squad were limited to securing a crime scene before one of the detective pairs arrived to investigate or doing a preliminary workup like they had just completed.

Detective Louis Capshaw was a brown bear and even though it wasn't even approaching winter, one would have been mistaken if they thought he was in a state of pre-hybernation. His eyes were glazed over as he watched a EweTube video of football highlights while he spooned pistachio-flavored pudding into his mouth. Of all the detectives on the squad, Capshaw was Judy's least favorite. Not because he was mean or rude, but because he was, for lack of a better word, apathetic.

So, it was no surprise when the bear simply held out his paw to take the case file from Judy after she greeted him. He didn't even look away from the video as he flopped their morning's work on top of another pile of case files. The rabbit was miffed but undeterred. She rattled off the details they had gotten but the detective just grunted when it seemed appropriate.

This wasn't going to fly with the rabbit cop. Her ire was leaking into her voice as she tried to get the bear to show an once of care. This was an important case and not just because it bordered on being personal.

Realizing that they weren't going to get anywhere other than Judy angry for the third time in half a day, Nick cut the one-sided exchange short and hurried the rabbit out the door. To her credit, she knew there was little she could do. She just wished _they_ had the case to themselves. Maybe she could... If she phrased things very delicately, approach Bogo, but it wasn't going to be today.

Right then, they had a lunch date at the courthouse to attend to and suddenly, the rabbit officer's stomach was filled with butterflies.

She was crossing the plaza outside the precinct with her partner and best friend, Nicholas Wilde, for the express purpose of legally acknowledging their status as mates.

When the realization hit her, she stopped in her tracks. The step they were about to take was a formality. Scent marking and mating was a little old-fashioned for many of the modern day mammals of Zootopia. The old ways were being replaced by the idea of dating—lots of dating and really getting to know a mammal before getting married complete with ceremony. But for many other mammals, such as her species, a date or two was all that was needed before life-mates. Most species had their own courting rituals that went back eons. If it wasn't broke, why fix it?

But of course, things weren't that simple. For all practical purposes, Judy and Nick were already legally married. Scent marking and mating was the traditional way to go about what modern animals would consider 'getting married'. The method went all the way back to primitive tribal times. The act was enshrined as law almost as soon as laws became a thing. In the absence of a parental arrangement, mammals who did so would report to their parents or elders or chief and the union would become permanent. But beyond official sanction, most mammals had good enough senses of smell to recognize when a couple had become mates and that would often suffice.

It was never advisable to mark (or depending on the species, extend/accept a courtship offer or win a mating battle), mate, and then deny your new mate or change one's mind. Shame would come to the scorned mate's honor and the mammal that went back on their word could face penalty, humiliation, or banishment. There were even several species who called for the mammal to have to face a family member of the wounded party in combat to assuage their honor. These sentiments carried far into modern times and explained the health education videos Judy was treated to in grade school.

Though, as mammals had lessened their sexual hang-ups allowing for sex _before_ marriage or even allowing casual encounters, the stigmas of more open relationships where fading so long as there wasn't scent marking involved. This process was accelerating as the idea of dating over months and years before marriage was replacing marking and mating.

In a way, the rabbit realized that they had somehow split the difference. The whole idea behind dating was to get to know a mammal better before you committed your life to them. She and Nick had done just that, unintentionally. They had gotten to know each other over the course of a year well beyond any pair of rabbits she'd ever met. They simply hadn't been overtly romantic when they spent time together.

So, when the catalysts of last week interacted with their relationship forcing them to confront their feelings for each other, it was as if the decision had already been made. There was no need for an extended dating and courtship followed by an engagement and ceremony.

For the rabbit and the fox, putting their relationship on file with the city court just made life easier. It would certainly help when it came to combining their finances or, given their line of work, having access to the other should they end up in the hospital.

But for some reason, Judy was overwhelmed at the moment. Formality or not, she was suddenly struck with just how much had changed in the last seventy-two hours. Sure, it was almost completely for the better. But she realized that since their first heart-to-heart on the roof of their apartment, she hadn't had a moment to herself to catch her breath.

One afternoon they were best friends and partners. The next afternoon they were mates. The circumstances were so unexpected that she had to wonder if they'd really happened.

She wondered if Nick was struggling with this at all and she vowed to talk to him about it.

She wasn't having second thoughts in the least, though she was briefly concerned that these sudden realizations were the onset of the cold feet. No, she was in this one-hundred percent. The rabbit just needed a minute to catch up to the entire bizarre thing.

Judy stared at her partner as he continued on ahead not realizing she had stopped. The plaza was starting to bustle as mammals of all walks of life were starting their lunch breaks and if she wasn't careful, she'd loose sight of him. He managed to put some distance between them before he noticed.

He spun to find her looking around with confusion before calling out, "Carrots?"

Judy didn't know why, but it made her laugh. Which is why, when he spotted her laughing at him, his head cocked to the side with one ear up and one ear down in a classic canine look of confusion. This only made the rabbit laugh harder, her mate to become concerned, and a few passing mammals to try to figure out what the heck this laughing bunny was doing in their way.

The rabbit officer started walking towards her partner again as her laughter subsided. In that moment, it dawned on her just how funny the whole situation had been; that story that led to them becoming mates was pretty damn hysterical when she thought about it. Not that it made it any more amazing and wonderful or changed the fact that she had found the mammal she was going to spend the rest of her life with. But it did help put her at ease.

"Mind clueing me in on what's so funny?" Nick asked as she caught back up to him.

"I'll tell you later, Slick," she said still smiling. Judy hooked her arm into one of his and dragged him forward towards the courthouse.

"Uh, Carrots? No PDA's, remember?" he reminded her but without breaking contact.

For her part, Judy put a little more resolve on her face and looked up at him.

"Rules were made to be broken," she said confidently. "Let's get hitched."

The fox struggled to find a witty retort, but realized he'd be undermining his very long history when it came to respect for the rules. Instead, he returned his mates smiled and walked with her step-for-step.


End file.
